The Rencontres d'Arles, an annual photography festival in France, will run from July 3 through Sept. 24. The Taiwan Cultural Center in Paris collaborated with the Manuel Rivera-Ortiz (MRO) Foundation to launch a collateral event of the festival titled "Focus Taiwan–Osmosis (聚焦臺灣－異植・共生)," inviting three artists from different generations to join in, including Kuo Che-hsi (郭哲希), Hsu Cheng-tang (許震唐), and Wu Chuan-lun (吳權倫). Furthermore, Netherlands-based Taiwanese artist Lo Sheng-wen (羅晟文) will participate in the photo festival at the invitation of Dutch documentary photography space FOTODOK.
Focusing on ecological awareness, which is the theme of this year's photo festival, these artists will present their creations to showcase the close connection between vegetation and the human lifestyle. Through his work "Colonial Pine (殖民地之杉)," Kuo Che-hsi explores the political significance of plant varieties and planting methods for the authorities.
Meanwhile, Hsu Cheng-tang will bring his series "Tobacco Leaves (二忘菸水)," which delved into the decline of the tobacco leaf communities in Taiwan and documented the last batch of tobacco leaves harvested and manufactured under the government's guaranteed purchase deal. Wu Chuan-lun's "JTC (接替器)" recorded the common people's potted plants in reused industrial containers, reflecting ecologically friendly actions and the aesthetics of recycling.
Lo Sheng-wen's work is a large-scale treasure hunt named "Watch Out," featuring videography and pieces of jewelry alongside photography. What inspired Lo to create this art is the roadkill around France's largest marsh, Camargue. He had conducted the marsh’s landscape survey and established a database of information on the roadkill since 2022. Lo's artwork is intended for the participants to visit the place where the animals were killed by vehicles and observe the march’s environment as they are searching for the scattered pieces of jewelry made by Taiwanese designer Yang Ching-hui (楊景惠).
Taiwan Cultural Center in Paris Director Hu Ching-fang (胡晴舫) said image is an important asset to preserve the collective memory of society and record the context of culture and history. Hu stated that, through the photo festival, four Taiwanese artists approached from multiple perspectives, such as political power, environmental planning, and social change, using art as a medium to increase ecological awareness and demonstrate the importance of the international issue as well as Taiwan’s diverse and rich creative energy.