Artwork Appreciation
Sanjia Village, Dongshih Township, Chiayi County is one work in the series“Submerged Taiwan” by YANG Shun-Fa. During the Ming Dynasty, there were only three families: Cai, Gao, and Huang. The village name was derived from the three families; it was a beautiful neighborhood, the population increasing gradually, people grew rice, sugar cane, and white asparagus. This piece depicts an evening in Sanjia Village, a house in the middle of the water and the surface reflecting the sunset; it seemed beautiful but it was a gradually flooded house. YANG Shun-Fa poetically portrays a land that lost its original agricultural function due to overuse and creates a visual contrast; the pronunciation of the series name in Taiwanese sounds like "Is Taiwan beautiful?", which leads the viewer to reflect on damage to the environment.