HSIEH, PO-KANG
Assistant Curator, Department of Exhibition and Education, National Museum of Prehistory
Taiwan, Taitung
My name is Hsieh Po-Kang, and I work at the National Museum of Prehistory (NMP) in Taiwan as an assistant curator in the Department of Exhibition and Education. I hold a Ph.D. in Anthropology, with my primary research focus on the representation of modern history of Taiwan's indigenous peoples in museums.
Thick Description Experiment of Confronting Difficult Histories: A Curatorial Experience at a Taiwan Indigenous Peoples Local Cultural Museum.
For most indigenous peoples in Taiwan, the period of Japanese Imperial rule from 1895 to 1945 marked their first encounter with a modern national political regime. This era was characterized by military and legal domination, as well as profound socio-cultural transformations, presenting a challenging chapter in modern history known as "Difficult Histories." However, the face of colonialism and the colonial experience were never monolithic; indigenous peoples, too, exhibited diverse perspectives and intentions that must be disentangled through thick description to confront historical processes more authentically.
Museums serve as pivotal arenas and agents in this endeavor. Between 2017 and 2019, the Bunun Cultural Museum of Haiduan Township (BCM) in Taitung County received a donation of a collection of old photographs left behind by Taiwanese-Japanese police officers. Through thorough research, it was determined that the majority of these photographs were administrative records from the colonial period, documenting various significant historical events in the region. The research findings were translated into an exhibition that opened in 2020, attracting even the visit of President Tsai Ing-wen at the time. This young curatorial team eschew the previous nationalist confrontational perspective and adopted a method of thick description to reinterpret colonial archival materials. This paper will review the display theory of such reflective historical exhibitions, explore the dual-dialogue spatial design of the exhibition, and discuss the immersive design balancing object selection, color schemes, and sound elements, showcasing the indigenous curatorial team's intention to voice their perspectives and contribute to Taiwan's societal pursuit of historical justice and transitional justice for indigenous peoples.
Taiwan Indigenous Peoples, de-Colonialism, Thick Description