Weaving textile and a mining area form a dialectic between softness and solidness, whereas modern wounds of mountains are revealed to be gazed at and listened to through weaving techniques and patterns, as well as the bumpiness and clanking sounds made by the small trucks traveling into the mountains. Artist-curator LIN Gieh-Wen gathers her friends to unfurl a creative, collective scene of “co-creation through weaving.” The participating weavers transform diasporic and hybrid experiences into a raw momentum and fresh language, wrapping the mountains as well as wounds of wars and relocations from the past with the healing power emerging from group efforts and mutual learning. Perhaps, the two-dimensional patterns recorded by the textiles hanging on rock formations and cliff faces are pointing to a pathway leading towards the future. (Commentator/WU Sih-Fong)

In 1977, Shi Hwa Stone acquired the mining right to Ruixin Mine, which has since become intricately related to the history and development of the Hongye community. A Mountain Enwrapped begins with the Hongye community in Wanrong Township, and enters Dungku Asang, the traditional territory of the Bunun people in Panital (Zhuoxi Township). With the mine as its site, the exhibition serves as contemporary Taiwanese weavers’ response to our time. Through director Tommaso Muzzi’s documentation from the miner’s perspective, A Mountain Enwrapped depicts realistic scenes of the indigenous community in history and the changing environment, together with the “co-weaving” initiative launched by the curator, to map out the relationship between the action of weaving and the site of weavers.

Labay Eyong (LIN Gieh-Wen) is a Truku from Hualien. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Applied Arts from Fu Jen Catholic University, and a master’s degree in Temporary Space Design from the Faculty of Architecture of the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. She traverses between the modern and the ancient, attempting to strike a balance between the two through artistic creation, and speaks of power through gentleness, while exploring self-development through traditional Truku weaving. Her practice engages in metal work, soft sculpture, installation, video, writing, public art, and curating, with which she endeavors in promoting contemporary indigenous weaving.