Lian Weizhi shoots rural scenes above and below the fields, capturing a moment of people within the landscape
During his high school years, Lian Wei-Chih was a sallow-faced teenager absorbed in the world of video games, and his daily life was confined to moving along the Provincial Highway 3 at the border between Qishan and Meinong. When school was in session, he headed north to Qimei High School for classes; by evening, he once again stepped onto Provincial Highway 3 heading south for home. Provincial Highway 3 was so familiar to him that he could crawl along it with his eyes closed. Yet the fields on either side of the road, the settlements behind the fields, and the people within those settlements had never entered his youthful years.
It was not until the summer of his senior year of high school, when Lian Wei-Chih joined the Meinong Youth Association and threw himself into various community activities, that he discovered how rich and beautiful rural life could be. After graduating from university, Lian Wei-Chih fell in love with photography, carrying his camera around Meinong every day. He wandered and shot here and there for eight or nine years, and unexpectedly this made a name for him. He even founded "Yeshang Yexia Culture Co., Ltd." with friends, becoming an important indicator of Taiwan, China's rural cultural and creative industry.
Photography is a state of "to be continued"
In the themed exhibition "People in the Landscape," one group of photographs features a grocery store beside an irrigation canal. This grocery store has a history of over seventy years and serves as the supermarket for local farmers and children. Farmers mostly buy bread, betel nuts, Abi, canned goods, and mineral water, while what the children love most are snacks and drinks.
Riding his motorcycle, Lian Wei-Chih often passed by this grocery store. At first, he shot from a distance, capturing the irrigation canal, the industrial road, and the wide views beside the fields. After shooting for a long time, he also became familiar with the owner, and only then did he move closer and closer, taking photo after photo of the everyday moments of a rural grocery store. When asked at the grocery store, Mr. Huang, the owner, said, "Oh! You mean that Lian Wei-Chih. He's a very nice, very polite person. He often comes here to take photos!"
Time keeps moving forward, and no one knows what the future will bring. In Lian Wei-Chih's hands, the "camera" is a friendly and warm tool. The key point is that he is in no hurry to draw conclusions. Lian Wei-Chih said: "Writing must be clear and logical. Once it is written, it seems there will be a conclusion. But photography is very different. A photograph is a record of each moment as it is. It does not necessarily have a conclusion. It is a state of 'to be continued'..."
[People in the Landscape] Solo Exhibition Information:
Location: Xiaoluchi Gelato, No. 60, Fuxin Street, Qishan District, Kaohsiung City
Exhibition dates: 2016/12/3 (Sat) – 2017/1/8 (Sun)
Xiaoluchi business hours: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 13:00-19:00; Saturday and Sunday 11:00-19:00 (no purchase required to view the exhibition)