The word “藏” (pronounce: tsáng) means both “to hide” or “a treasure.”
Photographer WEN-HSUAN CHAO grew interested in indigenous cultural items and clothing from spending her childhood Lunar New Year holidays at her grandfather’s house near the Danlin Tribe in Pingtung, a rural district in Taiwan.
Her project focuses on discovering and exploring indigenous culture and finding ways to make it appreciated in current culture.
Although indigenous culture is a unique trait of Taiwan, its influence remains limited outside indigenous areas.
She chose Taipei as the main location and focused on urban residents who are not Indigenous.
Through this, she investigated how non-indigenous people in the city dealt with indigenous items.
Taipei is a city rich in resources and heavily influenced by other cultures. For example, modified Japanese traditional clothing or African-patterned bags are common, yet indigenous cultural items are almost absent.
This project aims to explore how indigenous culture can be more recognized and understood,