Deng Wen-Jen Solo Show - Flying Shuttle
展期：2017/08/31-10/22地點：蕭壠A1館
鄧文貞 / 1999畢業於法國巴黎國立高等美術學院，持續創作並在國內外展覽。作品從早期巧妙結合油彩與刺繡，到後來台灣花布打底的複合媒材油彩，或近期的天然染色軟雕塑與梭織、刺繡地圖，都優遊在纖維材質的世界。
作者出生於花蓮東竹村(頭人埔，曾改名竹田)，祖父是由新竹竹東徒步到此的客家人，母親來自於新興村馬加祿，1862年大庄西拉雅人用牛、豬與卑南族人換取這塊獵場，而大庄(今東里)為西拉雅人為躲避漢人而遷徙東部的聚落。幾年前，藝術家在偶然機會下查詢日治時期的戶籍謄本，發現母系族譜皆標示”熟”字，這代表著平埔族的註記在藝術家心裡種下了一個疑問的種子…
DengWen-Jen / Since graduating from
National Superior Fine Arts School (L'ENSB - A) Paris, France, in 1999, Denghas
been creating works which have beenshown atmultiple exhibitions, bothin Taiwan
and abroad. Inthe beginning, Dengcleverly combined oil painting and
embroidery,following whichshe moved on to mixed media paintings on Hakka printed
cloth. Recently, she has been working on soft sculpture made with natural dyes,
together with wovenand embroidered maps, traversing the world of multiple
typesof fibers.
Deng was born in Dongzhu,
Hualian - formerly known asTourenpu, and once called Zhutian - to which Deng’s
Hakkanese grandfather had walked from Zhudong, Hsinchu. Deng’s mother came from
Majialu, a hunting areawhich the SirayaPlain Tribe in Dazhuanghad been given by
the aboriginalPuyuma Tribe in 1862,along with cattle and pigs. Dazhuang, now
Dongli, is a village formed by the Siraya people who moved to eastern Taiwan to
evade the Chinese. Many years ago, Dengconsulted the household register
transcript back to the Japanese-occupationperiod, and found her maternal family
was all marked as ‘Shou’, a symbolic characterrepresenting Taiwanese plains
aborigines. This finding embeddeditself intoDeng’s mind and hasinspired herto
discoverwhere her roots lie.
《飛梭》
臺灣藍草的種植始於荷蘭時期，為供應歐洲對藍色染料的需求，先民以最天然的大菁、薯榔…等植物染線織布，跟隨著先民的步伐，再現將消失的技藝，藝術家在蕭壠文化園區(佳里舊糖廠)所在地，擷取甘蔗葉、福木、七里香、藍靛，煮染套色出二十多種顏色的線。
此次展覽是以西拉雅文化為主題，用麻繩、甘蔗葉、皮和線材編織成綴織畫，結合十字繡與刺繡的蕭壠古今歷史地圖，還包括以工作室為概念的閣樓，展出研究手稿、草圖和駐村縮時影像紀錄，讓觀眾更了解藝術家的創作歷程。飛梭本是形容織布機的梭子飛快來回，藝術家穿梭在不同的時空，拼湊模糊的片段，幻想編織著童趣的故事，駐村計劃意外的成為她的尋根之旅。
Flying Shuttle
To meet the European need for blue dyes, bluegrass has been
grown in Taiwan since the island was under Dutch rule. Our ancestors used
natural plants, such as assam indigo and dye roots, to dye threads for weaving.
Following in the steps ofherancestors, Denghas endeavoredto revive
theirskills,which have almost disappeared. She collected sugar cane leaves and
bark, common garcinia, murrayapaniculata and indigo,and has boiledand
concoctedthese natural materials, as a result of whichDenghas created threads
of more than twenty colors.
In thisexhibition,
Dengexplores the theme of Siraya culture. She has made tapestries with hemp
ropes, sugar cane leaves andskin, and threads, as well as history maps of
Soulangh made with cross-stitch and embroidery. Adopting the concept of a studio,
Denghas built a loft to display her manuscripts for research, sketches, and a
time-lapse recording ofher residency to help spectators better understand the
process of her creations.
The term ‘flying shuttle’
is used to describe the shuttles travelling swiftly through aweaving machine.
As an artist, Denghas traversed different eras and places, putting together
ambiguousfragments, weaving childlikestories with her imagination. The artist’s
residency happens to be a journeyback to her roots.
