捕捉現代：台灣寫實攝影轉變初探

Abstract

Through analyzing the 1955-1966 photographic works of Shang-Hsi Cheng, this paper explores the aesthetic transformation, and reconstructs the photographic history in Taiwan. Following questions have been addressed: What alternative trends could be different from the dominant aesthetic hegemony in photography at that time period? What aesthetic possibilities have been created in the particular cultural and historical contexts? How could such possibilities shape and reshape dominant cultural practices?

In terns of images making and history making, Taiwanese photography represented ambivalent experiences between following foreign styles and adhering to the nativist tradition. At the same time, how history making of Taiwanese photography could be different from dominant cultural practice had been a crucial and unsolved issue on the spot. To this end, this paper analyzes photographic works through exploring interactions between photographer Shang-Hsi Cheng and the cultural context in which his works have been shaped.

By adopting a contrast-of-context historical principle and narrative-identity approach, we asked Shang-Hsi Cheng to recall critically about the way he created his works and the ways he differed from his interlocutors. We also compared Cheng's work with the similar trend in the western history of photography. In so doing, we reconstructed a unique photographic history of Taiwan by comparing and contrasting the interweaving between the cultural identity of photographer and the change of his aesthetic styles.

This research found that an alternative photographic development in the 1960s was evident in the 1960s in Taiwan. Mainly derived from the Japanese traditions of photographic expression, this alternative was perpetuated by private organizations and interpersonal relationship. Rich championship awards in annual exhibitions and mass media made photography-making popular. In such cultural contexts, the unique geometric composition of Shang-Hsi Cheng opened possibilities in reinterpreting realism of photographic aesthetics. Meanwhile, the openness of leading photographers played crucial roles in making such new possibilities. However, lack of theoretical engagement in aesthetics and descent art criticism failed the further development of aforementioned possibilities.