The Tua-Tiu-Tian Internationl Festival of Arts (大稻埕國際藝術節) officially opened on Sunday, October 1st with an action-packed month of events which aims to not only showcase and promote the historic Dadaocheng area of Taipei, but also display many of the artistic talents that both Taipei and Taiwan have to offer to the world.

The month of events kicked off with the opening of the Dadaocheng International Photography Exhibition (外籍攝影師鏡頭下的大稻埕) which featured the work of both local and expat photographers and will remain on display for the entirely of the festival.

As I mentioned in my previous post about the Dadaocheng Photowalks, the photo exhibition had a focus on documentarian street photography-style photos that would help tell the story of the residents of Dadaocheng, the history of the area and also its revitalization over recent years.

To that effect, the curator of the event TC Lin organized several photowalks in August and September which led both foreign and local photographers around Dadaocheng to get shots to contribute to the event, network with each other and learn about the area.

The photowalks that TC arranged led us around most popular and well-known areas of Dihua Street (迪化街) but also much further down the road into areas that are not as commonly visited by tourists as well as areas that are only just recently starting to receive a bit of attention in terms of revitalization.

The first photowalk was more of an introduction to the event and a bit of a tour around the area for people who were unfamiliar while the second walk was more of us just walking around, taking cover from torrential downpours, chatting and taking photos.

As I mentioned in my previous blog about the photowalks, I typically spend most of my time at these events chatting with friends I haven’t seen for a while, so in order to get enough photos to submit to the event, I did a solo photowalk around the area in conjunction with a visit to the famous Dadaocheng Wharf on a day that turned out to have one of the prettiest sunsets of the year.

The exhibition opened last Sunday and attracted quite a few visitors as well as most of the photographers who took part in the event. It was a wonderful afternoon spent enjoying the company of friends new and old and enjoying the different perspectives of Dadaocheng that were put on display by photographers from all over the world.

Split up into two different venues including URS127 Art Factory (URS127玩藝工場) and URS27W Film Range (URS27W城市影像實驗室), the exhibition which will run for the entire month is open to the public free of charge.

A few days earlier TC contacted me and requested that I say a few words to the crowd about the event - At first I was a bit apprehensive due to how much I embarrassed myself at my solo photo exhibition a month or so earlier but ultimately agreed and did my best not to embarrass myself too much. Fortunately I’ve spent quite a bit of time researching the Dadaocheng area for my blogs about the City God Temple, Bao-An Temple, and the last few years of visiting the annual Dihua Street Lunar New Year Market.

In the gallery below, I’m sharing some of my photos that were featured at the exhibition with the original and an iPhone shot of the photo on the wall. With all the talent involved in the event I was both surprised and honoured that so many of my photos were chosen to be featured in both venues of the exhibition.

I want to thank TC Lin, Chenbl Chen and all the organizers of the Tua-Tiu-Tiann International Festival of Arts who put together this event. I also want to thank the friends who came out to support us - especially those people who have followed my work for a while but haven’t had a chance to meet!

I'd also like to show my appreciation to some of the other photographers who took part in the event and contributed their work and vision to the event. Quite a few of those photographers are my friends, so if you'd like to know more about them, you may want to check out the following people: Darren Melrose, Brian Wiemer, Neil Wade, Dilip Bhoye, Filipe Rios, Tyson Skriver and Ken Dickson.

The exhibition will be on until the end of October, so if you are in Taipei and have any free time, you should definitely head over to check out the exhibition spaces as well as taking part in some of the great events planned over the next month!

Exhibition Period: 10/01 ~ 10/31 (展出日期:10/01 ~ 10/31)

Main Exhibition: URS127 Art Factory ( #127, Dihua Street. Section 1. Taipei)

主展場：URS127玩藝工場 - 台北市迪化街一段127號

Secondary Exhibition: URS 27W Film Range (#27, Yan-Ping Road. Section 2. Taipei)

展場二：URS 27W 城市影像實驗室 - 台北市延平北路二段27號

Tua-Tiu-Tiann International Festival of Arts: Website | Facebook | Event Schedule

A year or two ago I took part in an International Photowalk and photo exhibition to help promote awareness of the plight of the historic Nanjichang Community (南機場) in Taipei.

The event, which took place on two separate occasions saw a group of local as well as expat photographers descend upon the community to take photos to help tell the story of a community that is in danger of disappearing.

The event was organized in conjunction with local community leaders as well as by TC Lin, a well-known Taiwanese street photographer. The whole event was a learning experience for all involved, especially myself who hadn’t visited the community before the event.

When TC put forth the idea of once again getting us all together to put on an International Photowalk to help promote one of Taipei’s history communities, I clicked the “attend” button without a second thought. This time however, I was coming in much more prepared than the last one because the photowalk was being held in Taipei’s historic Dadaocheng Area, a place that I’ve blogged about quite a few times in the past!

The International Photowalk and the exhibition that will follow was organized as part of the annual Tua-Tiu-Tiann International Festival of Arts (大稻埕國際美術節) which aims to bring together Taipei’s artistic community and have them converge on Dadaocheng for a month of celebrating the revitalization of the area.

The two photowalks that were arranged led us around most popular and well-known areas of Dihua Street (迪化街) but much further down the road into areas that are not as commonly visited by tourists.

Our first photowalk was more of an introduction to the event and a bit of a tour around the area for people who were unfamiliar while the second walk was more of us just walking around, taking cover from torrential downpours, chatting and taking photos.

The photos that will ultimately be used for the exhibition will focus primarily on Street Photography from both local and expat photographers who are submitting photos that will candidly show the people of Dadaocheng going about their lives.

If you don’t know what Street Photography is, my definition goes a little like this: It is a style of photography that requires 'quick-thinking' and 'chance encounters' between a photographer and his or her subjects in candid situations.

Street photography more or less is meant to act as a mirror to society and the photos are meant to evoke a response from the audience as to the different aspects of life that they may or may not be familiar with.

Most highly skilled Street Photographers are able to blend a bit of irony into their photos which offer a deeper meaning to what is happening. For me (a rather unsuccessful street photographer) I tend to focus on aspects of life in Taiwan that the people here are unlikely to notice. As an expat I’m able to look at certain aspects of life in Taiwan through the lens of an outsider which allows me to notice things that locals may take for granted.

Ultimately what is displayed at the photo exhibition will depend on what the photographers who participated submit. The photos don’t necessarily have to be street photography, but they must show aspects of life in Dadaocheng.

Even though I already have a wealth of photos from the area after blogging about the Dihua Street Lunar New Year Market, the historic City God Temple, the historic Dadaocheng Wharf, etc. But decided instead of submitting older photos that I’d only submit photos taken on the photowalks and only provide new work.

The photos I’m posted here today were all taken on the two photowalks and while there might be a bit of 'irony' in some of them, I think they show some aspects of life in Dadaocheng that most tourists miss as they usually only stay on the restored and busiest sections of Dihua Street.

The photowalks were a good time and a lot of friends who I hadn’t seen in a while came out to take part, so even though I didn’t get as many shots as I would have liked, it was still a great time and I’m really looking forward to the exhibition as well as some of the events that will take place during the Festival of Arts.

If you are free during the month of October, make sure to take a look at that event schedule and head over to Dadaocheng to take part in some of the great events that are planned - there will be art exhibitions, dance performances, traditional theatre, live music and of course photography exhibitions.

Website: Tua-Tiu-Tiann International Festival of Arts

The photo exhibition will open on October 1st between 2:30-5:00 at the URS127 galley and the photos will be on display for the entire month.

If you have been looking for the opportunity to find out who I am or just want to meet up with me and kick me in the teeth, I’ll be there on that day - hope to see you there!

Likewise, you are invited to join myself and the other talented photographers who took part on the afternoon of the opening (Oct 1st) for an after party at Dadaocheng’s Le Zinc 洛 Cafe and Bar, which is a short walk from the two exhibition spaces!

Hope to see you there!