Juan l-Jong
Man and Land、Taipei Rumors、The Lost Grace and Square of Nostalgia
Double Nostalgia is a selection of Juan l-Jong's four most celebrated series of works: Man and Land ,Taipei Rumors, The Lost Grace and Square of Nostalgia. Through tender insight, these works record real Taiwan from the 1970s-1990s.
Man and Land is Juan l-Jong's most representative series of photographs, shot between 1974 and 1986, it has been displayed and collected by famous art museums domestically and internationally. This series employs black& white tableaus to capture local Taiwan scenery as well as scenes of minority life, reflecting the author's rediscovery of the value and beauty of the land in which he grew up. It's also Juan l-Jong's last glimpse of Taiwan's agricultural society, full of both simple and profound sentiments.
Taipei Rumors narrates the period of rapid transformation to Taiwanese society from 1975 to 1988.The economy was quickly developing at the time, politics began to deregulate, and Taipei was the most prominent representative of all cities.On the streets of Taipei, Juan I-Jong captured various sights, recording the growing pains of Taiwan's economic maturation and its march towards modernization at the time.
The Lost Grace truthfully presents the transformation from an agricultural society to a commercial society.It documents rural Taiwanese scenery and living conditions during that period, like returning to what nowadays is an already elusive and ancient way of life. Behind these simple and straightforward images and text lies a long-lost simplicity and elegance.
While the majority of Juan l-Jong's works were shot on 135mm film,Square of Nostalgia is a series in which he switches to more intimate 120mm film format.During times of constant change,Juan H-Jong deliberately sought out unchanging value, trekking back to the bygone days of his native soil and cozy old villages, recording the simple, honest faces of everyone he met. He provides us with nostalgia for that which is already scattered with out a trace: the adult's nostalgia for childhood, the traveler's nostalgia for home, the congested urban metropolis's nostalgia for the vast, open fields of the Countryside.
Double Nostalgia is a reflection upon birthplace and tradition, a state of being both here, there, and nowhere.Double Nostalgia attempts to transcend regional relationships and culture, closely examining the loss of literati spirit and homeland in contemporary reality; simultaneously using photography To transmit this feeling of nowhere.As one of the major exhibition,Double Nostalgia presents Juan l-Jong's photographic series from 70s including,Man and Land,Square of Nostalgia,Taipei Rumor and Lost Elegance.All works in The exhibition are from the collection of Gucang Contemporary Photography
Gallery.
