Artwork Appreciation
The artist Chen Cheng-Fang grew up in a military dependents’ village. She is full of emotions about the decline of the villages and the forced relocation of their remaining residents, and she uses photography in an attempt to preserve the memories of her childhood growth. Her Tiles of Nostalgia: My Childhood focuses on Taichung’s Qingshui Military Dependents’ Village, where she grew up, and includes 18 pictures of abandoned houses. Below each building, there is a long strip that shows three old tiles found inside it. Thus each large photo and its three corresponding small tile photos form a set; there are six sets in each row, and there are three rows. The deserted houses then form a neat series, just like a continuous picture in a film; they reverberate with memories and loneliness, making a special photographic narrative. The artist finds traces of her past from the remnants of the houses, such as the tiles scattered on the ground, and uses them to convey her feelngs on the changes that have happened over time.