【本特展由文化部匯聚臺流文化黑潮計畫補助執行】

框裡與框外——影像裡的我們，影像外的目光

Contested Frames: Taiwan's Indigenous Peoples Confronting the Colonial Gaze

展覽日期：2025/10/15-2026/4/30

展覽地點：Temple Anthropology Laboratory & Museum (TALM) －Gladfelter hall, Lobby Level

指導單位：文化部

主辦單位：國立臺灣史前文化博物館

合辦單位：美國天普大學

1895年，臺灣成為日本第一個海外殖民地，世代生活於此的原住民族，因外來殖民政權的統治，遭受戰爭、強迫遷移、流離失所、經濟剝削與社會強制同化等種種身心靈集體社會苦難。

二戰結束後的世界依舊劇烈地暴動著，遙遠如美國與蘇聯的冷戰，鄰近如中國國民黨與中國共產黨的對峙，都在相片之外的畫面拉扯出令人窒息的空白。軍事科技的煙硝味與國際外交的爆炸聲彷彿沿著非日常的時間線不斷伸進了寧靜的照片裡，成為日常生活裡的無聲背景。相片的邊界像是一個苗圃，在每個快門的瞬間綻放出生命的花朵，將黑白的影像抹上了喜怒哀樂的五顏六色。

作為一座島嶼，臺灣島上的原住民族擁有各自獨特而深厚的文化，而歷史的發展如無限延長的慢鏡頭，迎來西方探險者的航路、傳教士的聖言、漢人及日本殖民政權的現代化制度，為這座島嶼帶來不同的文化景觀。

如今，臺灣已超越地理上的島嶼邊界，原住民族的族群經驗也透過遷徙、離散與連結，延伸至太平洋、澳洲、加拿大、日本及美國等地。在去殖民與全球化的潮流裡，原住民藝術家透過創作回應殖民歷史，並持續探索文化記憶與身份認同等多重議題。

面對歷史影像中的殖民凝視，原住民藝術家不再是鏡頭下的被觀看者，而是主動透過創作翻轉視角，拆解影像背後的權力結構，讓那些曾被命名、被觀看、被遺忘的原住民族身影，有了重新現身的可能。

賽德克族藝術家瓦歷斯・拉拜（吳鼎武）於「隱形計畫」系列作品中，選取日本時代或臺灣早期人類學影像中對原住民族的影像紀錄，結合當代新媒體的實驗性操作與技術應用，覆蓋並抹除畫面中的人物身體，讓這些原本作為史料保存下來的原住民身體形象，在原生場景中逐漸隱沒，藉由影像的「消失」、「變形」及「再現」，反思臺灣原住民族在歷史中被觀看的經驗，並以此呼應世界原住民族在當代社會中所共同面對的歷史處境與身份議題。
 

策展團隊：Chris Upton、方鈞瑋、謝博剛、拉蓊‧進成、潘貞蕙、柯俊雄、廖碧蘭
美術設計：Cheng Yi Shih, Priya Lin, Joe Chang, Cheng Hui Cheng, Hui Yung Chang, Yun Chi Lin
動畫製作：
               動畫導演：李阿力
               專案經理：張如蘭
               視覺設計：陳青琳、吳識鴻、葉長青
               動畫製作：李阿力、陳奇逸、邱芸晨
              聲音設計：和諧滙聚股份有限公司
特別感謝：尤瑪‧達陸、黃星達、 Bakan Walis、Taka Tana、Yu Chen Chen

影像授權者/單位
個人：何豊國、瓦歷斯‧拉拜（吳鼎武）
單位：中央研究院人社中心GIS專題中心、國立臺灣歷史博物館、國家圖書館、國立臺灣大學圖書館

Many people see images as faithful records of everyday life preserving the details of lived experience and culture, and offering vital clues for understanding the past.
But do photographs necessarily represent the truth?

This exhibition invites viewers to reflect on images of Taiwan’s Indigenous Peoples not as objective reflections, but as works shaped by the photographer’s positionality, the historical context, and underlying power dynamics. At the same time, they subtly document the presence, reactions, and agency of those being photographed. Breaking through the frame of these images, the exhibition invites viewers into moments of human encounter revealing diverse perspectives on cultural memory, self-articulated histories, and the awakening of Indigenous self-awareness in Taiwan.

In 1895, Taiwan became Japan’s first overseas colony. Under foreign rule, the Indigenous Peoples who had lived on these lands for generations experienced profound and collective suffering in body, mind, and spirit—displaced by war, exploited for labor and resources, and subjected to coercive assimilation policies.

The world remained violently unsettled after World War II. Off-camera, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union played out across continents, while closer to home, the Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party faced off in a tense standoff. Military technologies, heavy with the scent of gunpowder, and the explosive rhetoric of global diplomacy seemed to pierce the calm of photographs at the time, forming a silent yet inescapable backdrop to everyday life.

Each photograph is like a bud on the verge of blooming. In the instant the shutter clicks, a moment of life blossoms, infusing the black-and-white image with vivid hues of joy, sorrow, and anger.

Taiwan is home to many Indigenous Peoples, each with their own distinct and deeply rooted cultures. The island’s history has unfolded like a slow-motion sequence—beginning with the sea routes of Western explorers, followed by the Gospel brought by Christian missionaries, and later the modernizing agendas of Han Chinese and Japanese colonial regimes—each leaving a lasting mark on Taiwan’s cultural landscape.

Today, Taiwan’s reach extends far beyond its geographic borders. Through migration, diaspora, and transnational relations, Indigenous Peoples in Taiwan have established connections that span the Pacific, Australia, Canada, Japan, and the United States. In the currents of decolonization and globalization, Indigenous artists have confronted colonial histories through creative practice, continually engaging with themes of cultural memory and identity.

Confronting the colonial gaze embedded in historical imagery, Indigenous artists have worked to contest the gaze through creative practice and dismantle the power structures that have long shaped representations of Indigenous Peoples. In doing so, they open a space for Indigenous figures—once categorized, objectified, and forgotten—to reappear on their own terms.

Wallis Labai draws on ethnographic photographs of Indigenous Peoples taken during the Japanese colonial period and early postwar Taiwan. Using image-editing software, he removes the figures from these archival images with a stamp tool and then applies fade-in and fade-out transitions through video editing. Presented through a single-projector display and VCD playback, the once-visible Indigenous bodies gradually vanish from their original settings.

Organizer： National Museum of Prehistory
Co-organizer：Temple University
Curitorial team：Chris Upton, Chun Wei Fang, Po Kang Hsieh, Daong Cinceng, Yaway Suyang, Katu Takishusungan, Pi Lan Liao
Design team ：Cheng Yi Shih, Priya Lin, Joe Chang, Cheng Hui Cheng, Hui Yung Chang, Yun Chi Lin
Translator： Yvonne Kennedy, Chris Upton
Amination team
       Director: Both Li
       Project Manager: Pinky Chang
       isual design: Kim Chen, Shih Hung Wu, Evergreen Yeh
       Amination production: Chiger Chen, Yuin Chen Chiu, Both Li
       Sound design: Musdm CO., LTD

Special thanks to
Yuma Taru, Sing Da Huang, and Bakan Walis for their wise advise on the development of the exhibit
Taka Tana for her handmade Atayal custom doll
Yu Chen Chen for his genenous help on the recording of Sediq's traditional musical instrument

Image courtesy of
Feng Kuo Ho
Walis Labai (Wu Ding Wu)
The GIS Center, Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, Academia Sinica
National Museum of Taiwan History
East Asia Image Collection. Easton, PA: Lafayette College
National Central Library, Taiwan
National Taiwan University Library
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