Artwork Appreciation
The photographer, Yang Shun-Fa, who has surveyed Taiwan’s coast for a long time, observed that in a group of dogs, there is always a leader that will bravely cross a stretch of water first, explore sandbars, and lead its companions to move forward. Moved by such scenes, he developed his “Taiwan TO GO” series and used it to ponder Taiwan’s maritime culture. To capture the vastness of the sea and sky, he deliberately took photos on cloudy days, and then he reconstructed hundreds of photos into single pictures that show Taiwan’s maritime culture in soft tones. The group of dogs in the far distance, including a “leader” that tests the water’s depth and leads his companions across, symbolizes the history of the immigrants who crossed the sea to Taiwan in the past. In the middle distance, some of the dogs already on the sandbar are barking at each other, while others watch the battle—as in Taiwan’s current political environment. The two dogs in the foreground that watch the other dogs from a distance represent the people, who possess ultimate power and supervision.Yang Shun-Fa uses images full of symbolic meaning to tell Taiwan’s story.