One of Taiwan's most eminent photographers — Chang Chao-tang (張照堂) — will take the center stage of a special exhibition organized by the Kwang Hwa Information and Culture Center in Hong Kong.
Spanning over half a century, Chang's career encompasses photography, television programs, documentaries, and feature films. His images reveal transcendence amid the commonplace, intimacy amid alienation, and humor amid the absurd.
"Perhaps because I grew up in a small town, I have a great fondness for taking photos in the countryside or out in the fields, in nature," Chang explained. "Capturing the world of children seems to be a way to look back on and reminisce over what is remembered and what has been forgotten."
As the recipient of honors including the Golden Bell (1976), the National Award for Arts (1999), and the National Cultural Award (2011), Chang revels in documenting the fleeting and mundane, as he values the atmosphere or state of existence above a particular vista.
Describing his collection as "old faces encountered on the streets, silhouettes, postures, waiting and gazing into the distance," Chang points out that "but they also embody a certain kind of warmth" and that "perhaps it is this warmth of nostalgia that has kept me walking on the path of photography."
Taking cue from this description, fellow photographer Shen Chao-liang (沈昭良) has curated this Hong Kong exhibition with the title "A Journey of Nostalgia" to showcase 27 exceptional photographs taken by Chang from the 1970s through the 1990s.
The retrospective exhibition will be offered as part of the 13th edition of the Taiwan Arts Festival, an annual month-long program that presents a series of performances, exhibitions, and forums that showcase the colorful voices and inclusive values of contemporary Taiwan.
‘A Journey of Nostalgia: Photography Exhibition of Chang Chao-tang’
Date: Oct. 11 – Nov. 20, 2018
Venue: Kwang Hwa Information and Culture Center
Address: Suite 4907, 49/F Central Plaza,18 Harbour Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Admission: Free
Artist Talk: Oct. 13, ft. Chang and Shen