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Voices of Photography
Issue 20 : 冷戰影像．美國因素
Cold War Images．The American Factor
冷戰，一個自二戰後從美國與蘇聯為首的對立關係之中展開，進而影響世界局勢與歷史發展的關鍵詞彙。1950年代起，居於美國反共圍堵政策重要位置的台灣——麥克阿瑟口中的「不沉的航空母艦」——也在美援的推力下，進入了一個新的社會與文化狀態。從意識形態到可口可樂，美國因素至今依舊牽動著東亞世局與我們日常生活的方方面面。在本期專題中，我們從台灣出發，循著東亞島鏈爬行，從冷戰時期的影像檔案，到後冷戰時期的當代攝影創作，對遠去卻仍鮮明的冷戰記憶進行了一次影像考查。
以文化冷戰作為切點，張世倫推究東亞冷戰架構下的圖像線索，剖視美國新聞處與國府的影像敘事策略；單德興與王梅香分別從香港美國新聞處自1950年代起發行的《今日世界》與《四海》畫報，揭開冷戰年代資本主義陣營宣傳戰的紙上烽火；李威儀探查農復會於美援時期拍攝的照片檔案，尋找過往台灣攝影譜系中遺落的美援身影；仲嶺繪里奈以不同世代沖繩攝影家的在地視角，細細解讀戰後沖繩人在美軍佔領與基地環繞下，複雜糾結的認同與抵抗；朴智洙藉由多位南韓攝影家的影像，訴說朝鮮半島分斷體制在北緯38度線間的沉重拉扯；許芳慈則透過藝術家菲奧娜．阿蒙森與萬迪拉塔那的作品，揭示在美國主導的冷戰史學之外的異質論述與歷史創傷。
此外，我們更專訪曾在六○年代派駐台灣的美軍退役士官長肯特．馬修。1965年，23歲年輕的馬修搭上C-54運輸機來到台灣，在隸屬美國空軍的台北通訊站工作，同時兼任台北美軍顧問團軍官俱樂部分部的經理；退休後，他建立了網站，召集許多當年駐台的美國老兵分享在台灣的時代足印。在馬修的軍旅回顧裡，我們彷彿重返歷史現場——美國大兵、俱樂部和基地……。這不只是一個老兵的故事，更是一段屬於台灣的集體記憶。
今年初，對當代視覺文化思考有深遠影響的藝評家約翰．伯格，以高齡90歲辭世。為紀念他，我們邀請影像評論家郭力昕與張世倫在編輯室進行了一場長篇對談，深度評析伯格的觀點論述及其知識份子典型，同時由資深藝評家黃翰荻執筆，追憶伯格敏銳深刻的觀看之道，絕對適合伯格的重度讀者。此外，這期我們也開啟一個新的攝影書選書單元「Photobook Club」，每期邀請一位國際影像工作者、研究者或收藏者，為讀者挑選近來值得關注的攝影書籍，本期將由位在墨爾本的亞太攝影書庫創辦人伯克-史密斯率先為大家介紹。
二月截稿之際，傳來青年藝術家任航輕生的惡耗，讓人震驚不已。我們在2013年的「身體與性」專題曾與任航對話，在他作品中穎異的肢體語言所展露的視覺張力，推進著身體意識的遊戲邊界，令人著迷，也使他成為近年國際攝影圈的一顆新星，但他卻毫不留戀地如流星飛去，告別他正澄亮的藝術生命。謹在此揮手，悼念送行。任航，好走！
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Cold War, a historical keyword, refers to a period of time which unfolded after World War II with conflicting relations between the United States and the Soviet Union, affecting the political and historical development of the world. From the 1950s, The U.S.’s anti-communist stronghold Taiwan, which was hailed by McArthur as the “Unsinkable aircraft-carrier”, entered a new social and cultural order under the influence of U.S. Aid. From ideology to Coca-Cola, “The American factor” has been influencing developments in East Asia and our daily lives in more ways than one. In this issue, we set off from Taiwan and move along the East Asian island chain as we look into image archives of the Cold War era to contemporary post-Cold War photography work, conducting a visual study of distant yet fresh Cold War memories.
Using the Cultural Cold War as his point of discussion, Shih-Lun Chang examined the pictorial clues under the framework of the Cold War in East Asia, in order to analyse the strategies of pictorial narratives by the U.S. Information Service and the KMT government; Te-Hsing Shan and Mei-Hsiang Wang respectively made use of the study of World Today and Four Seas, both started by the U.S. Information Service in Hong Kong, to unravel the intense ideological war by the Cold War Capitalist camp on paper. Through his study of the “Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction” image archives' shots captured during the U.S. Aid Period, Wei-I Lee searched for past images of the U.S. Aid Period left behind in Taiwan's photography spectrum.
Furthermore, Erina Nakamine chose to make use of the local perspectives of three Okinawan photographers from three generations to conduct a detailed study of Okinawans' complicated self-identity and resistance issues while under American rule and surrounded by U.S. military bases. Through the photographic images of many South Korean photographers, Park Jisoo told the heavy-hearted story of struggles that took place in the Korean Peninsula on the 38th parallel. Fang-Tze Hsu's unraveling of alternative discourse and historical trauma outside of the US-centric Cold War historiography was done through a study of Fiona Amundsen and Vandy Rattana's works.
In addition, we also feature an interview with a retired U.S. Sergeant First Class, Kent Mathieu, who was based in Taiwan in the Sixties. He arrived in Taiwan on a C-54 carrier in 1965 where he worked in Taipei Air Station belonging to the U.S. Air Force in Taipei, while he also took up the post of Manager in the MAAG HQ’s Annex Officer's Club in Taipei. Following his retirement, Mathieu set up a website which served as a depository of memories for many American soldiers who had previously served in Taiwan. Through the memories of Mathieu’s military career, it was as if we were teleported back in time to the era filled with images of U.S. soldiers, clubs, pubs and bases..... These imprints which have been gradually forgotten in Formosa not only formed the stories of many US soldiers once based in Taiwan, but also collective memories belonging to Taiwan as well.
Earlier this year, renowned and influential art critic John Berger passed away at age 90. In memory of him, we invited photography critic Li-Hsin Kuo and Shih-Lun Chang for a long dialogue to conduct an in-depth critique of Berger’s ideas and his identity as an intellectual. At the same time, we invited experienced art critic Han-Di Huang to pen an article detailing Berger’s acute and intense views on seeing, which would certainly satisfy Berger’s ardent fans. In addition, from this issue onwards, we have started a new segment “Photobook Club” where we invite an international image practitioner, author, researcher or collector, to introduce to our readers recent worthy photobook reads. This issue, we open with Daniel Boetker-Smith, who is the founder of Melbourne-based Asia-Pacific Photobook Archive.
As we close our articles collection in February, we have received the sad news of young artist Ren Hang’s suicide, which has left us in deep shock. We had a dialogue with Ren Hang in 2013 for the Bodies and Sex feature, we saw for ourselves the visual tension demonstrated through body language in his works, where he mesmerized all with his pushing of the game boundaries circling the human body. This led him to become the young star of the international photography scene in recent years. With his passing which happened like disappearing shooting stars, his illustrious life as an artist has also ended. We wish to bid him a fond farewell, may you rest in peace, Ren Hang!
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Voices of Photography 攝影之聲
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