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Yuma Taru

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Yuma Taru
達陸
Born1963 (age 60–61)
Miaoli County, Taiwan
Other namesHuang Ya-li
Alma mater

Yuma Taru (Chinese: 達陸; born 1963) is a Taiwanese aboriginal (Atayal) artist.[1] She is dedicated to preserving the weaving techniques and traditional culture of the Atayal people through her art.

In recognition of her contributions, she was awarded the title of the Important Preserver of Traditional Artists[2] in Atayal dyeing and weaving techniques.

Biography

[edit]

Yuma Taru was born in 1963 in Daan Tribe, Miaoli County, Taiwan.[3] She is a descendant of the Atayal from her mother and Han ethnicity from her father.[4][5] For much of her early life, she went by her Han Chinese name, Huang Ya-li (Chinese: 黃亞莉).[5]

In 1987, she graduated from the Chinese literature department of National Chung Hsing University.[6] Following her graduation from National Chung Hsing University, Taru became a Chinese teacher in Tung-Shin Junior High School,[6] which was an admirable profession among people in her tribe.[7] She devoted herself to teaching while also working at a manufacturer crafting weaving products for work-related purposes.

In 1991, at the age of 30, Taru quit her job as a Chinese teacher[6] and returned to the Atayal comunity of Xiangbi in Tai'an Township, where she dedicated herself to the revival of dying Atayal traditional culture.[7][8][9] This included the growing of plants used in Atayal weaving, such as ramie and Shoulang yam/kmages on tribal land,[5][10] and the processing and dyeing of fibers.[3] Taru was able to locate red ramie in Wufong County, Hsinchu, and successfully brought the plants back to Xiangbi. She learned weaving in part from her grandmother.[10]

In 1998, she graduated with a master's degree with the Textile Research Institute from Fu Jen Catholic University.[6] During her two years of graduate studies, she conducted field research by visiting more than a hundred villages belonging to eight different Atayal subtribes. She documented the life histories of tribe elders and the significant role of weaving in their lives and communities.[7] That same year she established an Atayal Weaving Exhibition, with the goal of rediscovering and preserving her lost cultural heritage.

She has promoted tribal education,[6] and contributed to building the Atayal Traditional Dyeing and Weaving Cultural Park.[2]

After the 2002 Taiwan earthquake, she relocated to Tai'an Township for post-disaster reconstruction while pursuing her master's degree. During this period, she founded Lihang Studio. The studio provides women with the means to earn a living independently, especially for those without family support or stable marriage.[11] In 2002, she became the first director of the Association of Indigenous Crafts in Miaoli[12] and received the funding from the 1st Keep Walking sponsor project.[13]

Works and projects

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In 2007-2008, her work Spreading the Wings of Dreams was sent to the National Gallery of Canada for exhibition with three other indigenous artists, Walis Labai and Kulele Rulada, on behalf of Taiwan.[14]

Taru's 2009 work, Era of Dream Building (Chinese: 築夢時代) is 6 meters in length and 2.2 meters in height. The work, which is installed on Kaohsiung's R6 rapid transit line, depicts natural elements such as forests, land, water, sky, and breezes, using traditional Atayal weaving materials.[15]

In 2011, some of Taru's work was shown at the fashion show titled The Heart of Forests – Atayal-styled Apparel: Weavings of Dancing Colors , held at the Xuejian Recreation Area in Shei-Pa National Park.[10]

The Island’s Four Seasons (Chinese: 島嶼・四季), crafted in 2015, is 58 meters in length and 3.5 meters in height and made of ramie and wool.[16] It shows the feelings and colors in the four seasons in front of visitors from abroad through the complicated weaving styles.[17][3]

Her 2017 piece, L'liung Penux (Early Death of a River, 河殤), is made of ramie and wool. It was inspired by Taru's desire to see the Da'an River undergo environmental restoration.[3][18]

Her 2021 piece, The Spiral of Life — The Tongue of the ClothVI (yan pala na hmali), is made of ramie, ramie and cotton yarn, steel wool, and metallic yarn. The piece depicts the concept believed by the Atayal that a person’s life is “a work woven in the heavens”. The piece uses intersecting incomplete circles to symbolize the way people interact with each other and the Atayal people's welcoming attitude toward others.[19]

50-Year Atayal Culture Revival Project

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Taru established the 50-Year Atayal Culture Revival Project (Chinese: 泰雅文化復興50年計畫) in 1991. Each of the project's five decades have their own specific goals.[20]

From 1991-2001, Yuma Taru conducted fieldwork on traditional Atayal clothing weaving skills, styles, and patterns.[2] She visited museums and institutions in Japan that house Atayal cultural artifacts and to inspect the Atayal textile collections.[21]

In the 2000s, Taru published an essay focusing on Atayal clothing and supported the cultivation of weaving skills among tribe residents, particularly women, revitalizing the ancestral clothing traditions.[22]

Following Taru's advocacy, P'uma Elementary School was established in Taichung in 2016. It is the first experimental elementary school for indigenous people.[23] Additionally, she established S'uraw kindergarten to provide cultural education to children.[19]

Taru plans to focus on "tribal sustainability, agricultural technology development, and the international promotion of Taiwan's indigenous traditions" for the decade of 2021 to 2031.[23]

Since 2021, Taru, recognizing economic hardship within the community, has advocated a homecoming movement, promoting a self-sufficient economic system centered around the cultivation of ramie and its comprehensive utilization.[22] She plans to begin with traditional outfits, hoping to promote Taiwan's aboriginal culture to the world and conduct international exchanges.[2]

Her future plans include initiatives focusing on combining global perspectives with cultural activities.[2]

Style

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Taru has devoted herself to restoring the Atayal people’s traditional dyeing and weaving techniques through research, investigation, and analysis.[2] She has produce range of pieces, including various crafts and traditional Atayal clothes. For the Atayal people, weaving represents a cultural record of the weaver's life and creations. The circle of life is a significant concept, which involves coming into the world through a symbolic “rainbow bridge” or “bridge of the gods,” and returning to the ancestral land. Through traditional weaving, she combines the memories of ethnic groups with contemporary culture, arousing awareness of the preservation and conservation of cultural heritage.[3]

Her works use ramie threads cultivated, processed, and dyed in her own workshop. She combines them with natural materials. Using techniques like weaving, knitting, embroidery, and wrapping, she creates installations with balanced linear patterns, proportions, and a low-saturation, earthy color palette.[24] In recent years, Taru has attempted to introduce innovations to Atayal weaving culture.[7]

Exhibitions

[edit]

Taipei Fashion Week AW23

[edit]

At Taipei Fashion Week AW23,[25] Yuma Taru used LED fiber-optic threads to create a weaving and dyeing effect, combined with Atayal traditional hand weaving and natural dyeing skills. In the Taipei fashion week AW23, she collaborated with Taiwanese fashion brand Chia-hung Su (Chinese: 蘇家紘), exploring the continuity and extension of aboriginal culture from the migration of Austronesian people to the Japanese colonial period. They also incorporated traditional Taiwanese Aboriginal and Japanese craftsmanship, wabi-sabi aesthetics, and modern fashion silhouettes.[26] At the event, the show opened with a set of traditional Atayal wedding dresses from the collection of the National Museum of Prehistory, followed by this clothing series depicting the timeline of Taiwanese Aboriginal culture.[27]

First Wave: Contemporary Australian and Taiwanese Indigenous Fashion Exhibition 2022

[edit]

This exhibition was held in Taiwan and Australia between 2022 and 2023, presenting the first aboriginal ethnic groups under the colonial experience of Taiwan and Australian colonization and combining it with the contemporary element as the innovation. This mirrored the mainstream culture and fashion industry, continuously connected the land, ethnic groups and their contemporary identity, and offered fashion propositions.[28] She borrowed the idea of “the First Nation”, regarding aboriginal people on the island, redefining the identity of indigenous people.[29][30]

She collaborated with the Australian artist Lyn-AI Young and brought the message that fashion was not limited to the shape, color, and quality, it also implies the designers’ thoughts and reflection to the world.[31]

Return to the Wilderness: Exhibition of Aboriginal Art 2023

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This show explored the irreversible fading of tribal scenes between tradition and contemporary times. Five artists were invited to return to tribal life after living away from their hometowns for years.[32] These artists from diverse backgrounds looked back on their life journeys.[33][34]

Tracing and Drifting

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Yuma Taru presented hand-woven artworks created over a span of thirty years. The exhibition comprised three main sections, including works that result from her research and analysis, the present circumstances of indigenous people in central Taiwan, a journey through the rich fields of wild lilies along the Da'an River in their memories.[35][36]

Awards

[edit]

In 2006, Yuma Taru was declared a National Living Treasure[37][38] by the Bureau of Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture (CCA, Council for Cultural Affairs) and also named The Important Traditional Craft Preserver in the weaving category[39] by the Ministry of Culture for her effort to preserve traditional Atayal weaving culture and her skills of weaving.

  • 2007-2008 Most Outstanding and Best Local Engagement in Public Art Work[40]
  • 2021 Environment Integration in Public Art Work[42]

References

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  1. ^ "泰雅族" [Atayal]. Council of Indigenous People (in Chinese). 20 December 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "用織紋記錄美麗的泰雅故事：專訪泰雅染織技藝文化保存者尤瑪" [Recording beautiful Atayal stories with textures: An exclusive interview with Yuma, the cultural preserver of Atayal dyeing and weaving techniques.]. The News Lens. 16 March 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e Taru, Yuma 尤瑪•達陸 (2022). "The Future of our Roots and the Land: The Revival of the Atayal Weaving Material Ramie". Pacific Arts. 22 (2). doi:10.5070/PC222259596. S2CID 254667051.
  4. ^ "人間國寶 尤瑪‧達陸" [Living National Treasure Yuma Taru]. gofun.brightideas.com.tw.
  5. ^ a b c "Atayal Weaver | Yuma Taru". Ministry of Culture. 2022-08-11. Retrieved 2024-10-05.
  6. ^ a b c d e "輔仁大學104學年度傑出校友 尤瑪．達陸" [Fu Jen Catholic University’s Outstanding Alumni of the 104th Academic Year Yuma Taru]. Fu Jen Catholic University.
  7. ^ a b c d "尤瑪・達陸 YUMA TARU". Liang Gallery.
  8. ^ 黃, 小黛 (April 2013). "尤瑪‧達陸為傳統生命織圓" [Yuma Dalu weaves tribal treasures into circles for traditional life]. Tribal Treasures (8). Council of Indigenous People.
  9. ^ "REAPPEARANCE OF TRADITION: ATAYAL WEAVING WISDOM-Yuma Taru". Kang Chiao International School.
  10. ^ a b c "Yuma Taru (尤瑪．達陸)". National Park Service of Taiwan. Ministry of the Interior. 2011-12-07.
  11. ^ "野桐工坊" [Yetong Workshop]. Ministry of Culture Taiwan.
  12. ^ 袁, 庭堯. "苗栗縣原住民工藝協會，轉型復興泰雅染織文化" [Miaoli County Aboriginal Crafts Association, transforming and reviving Atayal dyeing and weaving culture]. Social Economic Development Web Portal.
  13. ^ "尤瑪 .達陸" [Yuma Taru]. Keep Walking Fund.
  14. ^ "展開夢想的翅膀--飛到加拿大 渥太華 @ 泰雅染織文化園區" [Spread the wings of your dreams - fly to Ottawa, Canada @ Atayal Dyeing and Weaving Cultural Park]. m.xuite.net. 13 May 2013.
  15. ^ "築夢時代" [The Era of Dream]. Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation.
  16. ^ "桃園市公共藝術網｜島嶼・四季". publicart.tyccc.gov.tw. 5 July 2017.
  17. ^ "藝術家尤瑪．達陸作品「島嶼四季」(圖)" [Artist Yuma Taru's work "Island Four Seasons" (photo)]. today.line.me. Central News Agency. 2021-07-23.
  18. ^ "溯與洄—尤瑪‧達陸纖維藝術展" [Traceability and Migration—Yuma Dalu Fiber Art Exhibition]. Miaobei Art Center.
  19. ^ a b "Yuma Taru". 2022 Taiwan Art Biennial. National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts.
  20. ^ Huang, Weixuan (2023-11-01). "用苧麻織出完整泰雅族歷史" [Weaving the complete history of the Atayal people with ramie]. 傳藝online (in Chinese). Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  21. ^ Hsing, L. (2008). Reappearance of Atayal: catalogue of the reproductions of Pan-Atayal traditional costumes. National Museum of Prehistory. p. 11. ISBN 9789860150599.
  22. ^ a b "在編織中洄游祖靈之海 尤瑪．達陸的50年遠眺" [Traveling through the sea of ancestral spirits in weaving: A 50-year perspective of Yuma Taru]. Yahoo! News. Xin Media News. 25 September 2022.
  23. ^ a b "Yuma Taru". Indigenous People's Industry Platform. Council of Indigenous Peoples. 2022-01-14. Retrieved 2024-10-05.
  24. ^ "Yuma Taru 尤瑪‧達陸 – 原住⺠族委員會原住⺠族文化 發展中心臺灣國際南島藝術三年展". tiaat.tacp.gov.tw (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved 2023-12-06.
  25. ^ "「2023臺北時裝週-時裝設計推廣」時尚大秀暨系列活動設計師徵件公告" ["2023 Taipei Fashion Week - Fashion Design Promotion" Fashion Show and Series Event Designer Recruitment Announcement]. Taipei Fashion Week (in Chinese). Retrieved 2023-05-22.
  26. ^ "當人間國寶遇見設計師！2023春夏臺北時裝週開幕秀 你可能不知道的跨界時尚創作故事" [When a national treasure meets a designer! 2023 Spring and Summer Taipei Fashion Week Opening Show: Stories of cross-border fashion creation that you may not know]. BeautiMode (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 創意生活風格網. 2022-10-05. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  27. ^ Lin, Kuan (2022-10-17). "震撼人心的開幕秀！設計師聯手原住民「人間國寶」，將原民古老工藝融入時裝｜臺北時裝週" [Shocking opening show! Designers teamed up with Aboriginal "national treasures" to integrate ancient Aboriginal craftsmanship into fashion｜Taipei Fashion Week]. Vogue Taiwan (in Chinese). Condé Nast. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  28. ^ "南科考古館「第一浪潮」特展 大秀台、澳原住民時裝藝術 | 焦點" ["First Wave" Special Exhibition at the Archaeological Museum of Southern Science and Technology Grand Show Stage, Australian Aboriginal Fashion Art | Focus]. 人間福報 (in Chinese). Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  29. ^ "第一浪潮：當代澳洲與臺灣原住民時裝藝術展" [First Wave: Contemporary Australian and Taiwanese Aboriginal Fashion Art Exhibition]. National Museum of Taiwan Prehistory. Retrieved 2023-12-23.
  30. ^ "出席澳洲與臺灣原住民時裝藝術展 副總統：瞭解臺灣過去原住民族的歷史與文化 對臺灣產生認同 讓臺灣社會和諧相處". www.president.gov.tw (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  31. ^ "Yuma Taru and Anchi Lin". Institute of Modern Art. Retrieved 2023-12-23.
  32. ^ "Labay Eyong". 台灣女性藝術協會. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  33. ^ "復返山林-回望自然的流浪者之歌" [Returning to the mountains and forests - the song of a wanderer looking back at nature]. Liang Gallery.
  34. ^ "台北藝博會展開 原民特區帶領「復返山林」" [Taipei Art Fair launches, Aboriginal special zone leads "return to mountains and forests"]. TITV News 原視新聞網 (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 2023-10-24. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  35. ^ "溯與洄-尤瑪．達陸纖維藝術展 苗北登場│T-NEWS聯播網" [Tracing and returning - Yuma Taru Fiber Art Exhibition Miaobei Debuts│T-NEWS Network]. 8 October 2021 – via YouTube.
  36. ^ "溯與洄-尤瑪．達陸纖維藝術展 苗北登場" [Tracing and returning - Yuma Taru fiber art exhibition Miaobei debuts]. tbc.net.tw.
  37. ^ "技藝超群 張憲平、尤瑪．達陸獲「人間國寶」" [Excellent skills Zhang Xianping, Yuma Taru won the honor of "National Treasure on Earth"]. Liberty Times Net. 5 July 2016.
  38. ^ "后里花博邀請人間國寶 尤瑪‧達陸展出染織作品" [Houli Flower Expo invites national treasure Yuma Dalu to exhibit dyeing and weaving works]. Liberty Times Net. 12 July 2018.
  39. ^ "文化部文化資產局--國家文化資產網". nchdb.boch.gov.tw.
  40. ^ "第一屆:::國立臺灣史前文化博物館公共藝術設置計畫" [First Session:::National Taiwan Museum of Prehistory Public Art Installation Plan]. Ministry of Culture Public Art Award (in Chinese).
  41. ^ "尤瑪．達陸 - 傑出校友" [Yuma. Da Lu - Distinguished Alumni]. Fu Jen Catholic University Public Affairs Office (in Chinese).
  42. ^ "第七屆:::桃園國際機場第一航廈改善工程專案計畫公共藝術設置計畫" [The 7th Annual:::Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 1 Improvement Project Project Public Art Installation Plan]. Ministry of Culture Public Art Award (in Chinese).
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