攝影之聲 Issue 21 : 影像刊誌考 A Study of Photo Publications

In this issue of VOP, we combed through and compiled numerous photo publications from Taiwan, China and Hong Kong. Using this as a fulcrum in our primary examination of the historical development and cultural ripples of photo publications in East Asia, we tried to map the past and current challenges and transformation of this age of images.

Through the Japanese colonization and martial law eras, the existence and evolution of post-war photo publications in Taiwan is not unlike a winding journey. Chia-Chi Chen traces the complex development and the ups and downs of Taiwanese photographic journals in the last century; Shih-Lun Chang revisits ECHO, a magazine published in the 1970s, and recounts the historical context and cultural influence of this pioneering publication on Taiwanese folklore and documentary photography. Chiu-Hong Liang takes a look at “adult publications” from the Japanese colonial period and examines the relationship between politics and the colonial structure of objectifying Taiwanese women as a form of visual consumer product. Wei-I Lee puts together the Today series of KMT government propaganda materials published during the martial law era and explores how the government engaged in psychological warfare through the use of such publications.

Over in China, the media and publication industry, which has long been heavily controlled by the state, has given birth to a photographic media ecology with "Chinese characteristics." Gu Zheng takes a look at how political and economic changes since the Cultural Revolution and the Reform Era gave shape to the expectations, reality and texture that photo publications have had to bear since 1949. Yi-Ning He also explores how independent publications in China, in an attempt to blaze a trail in a much-restricted environment, with their dedication to possibility and imagination, have brought with them a new sense of innovation and a breath of fresh air into the scene of Chinese photography. Turning to Hong Kong, Wing-Ki Lee showcases Hong Kong’s post-war photo magazines and recounts their impact on the society as he reveals the close relationship between early photo publications and leftist groups and their struggles with the commercial market.

In this issue’s “Artist Showcase”, I-Ting Hou tells us how her work Li̍k-sú Tsiam-tsílâng reflects gender definition and sensory perceptiveness instilled by the social collective consciousness through the overlapping historical photographs of embroidery and labor productivity from the colonial period. In the “Q” segment, Vincent Marcilhacy, the founder of French photography magazine The Eyes, shares with us his editorial concept for this new magazine and his first-hand observations of photography. At the same time, we also pay a visit to Le Bal, a visual art space in Paris, and see its transformation from a haven of drinks and dance to a new cultural stronghold in Europe.