馬來西亞系列介紹

馬來西亞那系列

MALAYSIANA SERIES

創作自述

Artist Statement

于一蘭，2002年4月

Yee I-Lann, April 2002

馬來西亞那系列是由另一個替馬來西亞國家畫廊執行的展覽，「認同：這就是我們」(2002年4月-6月)中的一個計畫衍生而來，這計劃是與位在馬六甲的百佳影社合作，名為「透過粉紅色濾鏡」。百佳影社的系列照片跟循著傳統特屬於權貴使用的人像攝影方式。直到最近這幾年，相機與製作相片的市場才逐漸不再只是上層階級與少數的中產階級的玩物，在這之前許多人都得透過住家附近的影社去接觸相機與沖洗照片。從這些影社留下來的照片與大眾文化讓我們得以形塑社會化的自我，因為有過去才會有現在的我們，而這些影社拍下的瞬間就是建構我們的表徵。

The Malaysiana series was developed from a project commissioned by the National

Art Gallery of Malaysia for their exhibition “Identities: Who We Are” (April-June 2002)

called Through Rose-Coloured Glasses, done in collaboration with The Pakard Photo Studio in Malacca. The Pakard Photo collection follows the once exclusive and excluding tradition of commissioned portraiture, initially exercised by the elite and wealthy. Until relatively recently, the market for cameras and photo-making was confined to the upper class and a few middle class homes, yet thousands had access to photography through neighbourhood photo studios. It is through the blanketing mass of studio photographs, of popular culture, that allows and creates social billboards of ourselves, who we were and thus who we are, represented through the constructs of the studio capture.

這些攝影工作室與攝影師們隨著時間的流轉變成相當獨特的社會政治文化遺產的紀錄者，藉由一種內在無邪的感知與了解真實的歷史，以及發掘認同與地域、靈感與渴望間的想法，親近這些排列整齊的照片與我們分享了秘密。相片作為一個大眾文化的符號，細膩地使用自成一格的儀式組合與閱讀模式探究了非常私密個人領域。

These photo studios and the photographers that worked for them have become with the sentimental passing of time, a very special kind of archivist or documenter of socio-cultural, socio-political heritage. The intimacy and the ordinariness of these studio photographs share with us secrets by having an integral innocence, 'authentic' histrionics, exploring ideas of identity and place, aspiration and desire. As a quiet semiotic of popular culture it delves into very private realms with its own set of rituals and reading patterns.

家庭照是人像攝影中最常見的形式，表達了作為一個家庭的完整概念，以及血緣上情感的連結，讓每一個個體產生歸屬於同一個空間與根源的感覺。而家庭也可以被拆開來片段閱讀；媽媽與小孩、兄弟與姐妹。這些「失落」的部份在不經意編輯片段中，顯露出和動態的家庭關係一樣複雜的結構與不造作的真實。

'The Family' is the most common of portrayals in studio photography and is composed to give a family an appearance of wholeness, completeness - the family unit; breeding sentimentality and personal feelings of having a 'space' and origin. The family also becomes viewed through fragments: mother and child, the baby, brother and sister.

The 'missing' bits, the naive editing of these fragments often holds just as much intrigue and unposed 'truth' within the dynamics of family relationships. The placings or positionings within the photographs display the subtle hierarchical nature of power

play within the most delicate mechanisms of social exchange.

年輕的人們則展開雙臂擁抱鏡頭，他們願意在相機前展現性感、慶祝他們踏入成年的時刻；他們希望可以時尚美麗得到萬眾矚目，他們想要表現勇敢無畏，單純的證明自己的存在。攝影社的照片有時候是如此的官僚就像是記錄人生階段的一張證書，出生證明、結婚證明、到畢業證明，看似永恆不滅的紀錄。照片在此時就如同自傳一樣，透過當時的服裝與姿勢表達自身的認同

照片也記錄了時間的躍進，這些小朋友的照片是在特定時間拍攝下來的，不論是你我甚至照片中小朋友的孫子都可以在未來看到當時的光景，記得過去的時刻。相片的目的與需求反映了人們渴望安定與落葉歸根的情感，時光總是縱逝，但是相片中時間被扭曲了；過世的人可以活著，遲暮之年可以是荳蔻年華。這樣影像也許會與你我所認知的記憶相互衝突，有天你可能會問，我以前真的看起來是那樣嗎? 這個疑問會一直持續到有天相片裡的影像也變成記憶的一部份。拍攝相片的喜悅我想應該就是每張不同照片裡都不尋常的相似，你一定曾經說過：我也有一張那樣的照片!

 Young people, friends, embracing the sexy-ness of the present before the camera,

celebrate the rituals of adolescence, wanting to be modern, beautiful, famous,

wanting to appear brave and bold, simply wanting to be seen, to have proof of being

here. Studio photographs are also bureaucratic as they act as the birth certificate, the

marriage certificate, the graduation celebration; the eternalising record. They act as

biography. They can become the expression of identity through dress and posture.

Strange time leaps are afforded in photographs. The photo of baby is taken for That

moment, the child's future as well as your own, for the child's grandchildren in the

future's future to remember the past. Again, this purpose or need reflects the urge to

feel stability, origin, placement. Time is distorted. The photos become timeless; the

dead are seen as living, the old seen as young. Conflict may occur between your

own experience and memory with the representations. "Was I really like this?" As

your memories fade they are moderated and influenced by the photographs until the

image becomes the memory. A universal joy of photographs is that they are uncannily

familiar. "I have a photo just like that."