Don't speak to the mountain

Set in post-colonial Taiwan, Don't Speak to the Mountains observes Tsou youth torn between urban labor and sacred hunting. Rejecting romanticization, it explores these isolated cultural islands and new modes of coexistence.

Set against the complex historical and geographical backdrop of Taiwan—an East Asian island shaped by multiple colonial periods—Don't Speak to the Mountains (2021-2026) documents the amphibious existence of indigenous Tsou youth from Alishan as they navigate between modern urban life and ancient hunting traditions. Tribal civilization functions as a legacy within an evolving society, compressed by mainstream power structures into isolated cultural islands. Rejecting sentimental romanticization, this project employs a sharp, logically structured visual language to observe the tension between reality and belief along these spatial boundaries. By juxtaposing the gravity of lowland labor with the sacredness of deep-mountain rituals, the work explores the ambiguous zones of identity, questioning new models of coexistence between tradition and modernity in an era of closing borders.