The Artist and the Image of the Self: National Center of Photography andImage, Taipei

Curator｜CHEN Yung-Hsien

How does an artist navigate the visual representation of his/her self through self-gazing, self-imaging, and self-imagination to foster a dual-sided contemplation between self-awareness and mirrored reflection? How do they discern the contextual transformation personally and socioculturally? The works in this exhibition delve into the forms and content of several artists' self-images through "self-gaze" and "reflexive image." The former looks into self-identity and knowledge construction, while the latter extends to personal introspection and the cultural fusion, facilitating an open dialogue on reflexivity.

By focusing on the nature of mirrored reflection and form, I contemplate and analyze the dynamics between self, the other self, and the other, gaining an insight into how artists make use of imagery to convey self-awareness, transforming bodily actions into a potential translation of images. We see the self-images of photographers from the Japanese colonial era and photographers in post-war Taiwan, and self-images of Taiwanese artists after the lifting of martial law, as well as the diverse forms of self-representation by contemporary artists through new media technologies in recent years. This exhibition demonstrates abundant artistic energy.