Wayfaring: Photography in Taiwan,1950s -1980s explores four transformative decades of photography in Taiwan, tracing its evolution amid the island’s emergence from Japanese colonialism and integration into the Nationalist regime under martial law. Through a dozen richly illustrated essays and interviews, the book bridges the gap between recent vigorous Chinese-language scholarship on the subject and its limited representation in English. Taking its title from the concept of photography as a means of pathfinding, the book explores how, in the 1950s and 1960s, photography played a pivotal role in documenting local culture and everyday life, in the hands of both professionals and amateurs. In the 1970s and 1980s, photography was witness and agent of social transformation, engaging not only street protests but also issues such as environmental protection, mental health and gender politics, as well as being a vital conduit for cross-pollination in contemporary art, theatre, cinema and performance at the time.
Editors
Dr Olivier Krischer is a historian and curator of art from East Asia and the Asian Australian diaspora, whose research concerns modern and contemporary transcultural art, photography and intermedia practices. His curatorial projects include 'Assembly'(2023), featuring eight Hong Kong-born artists, 'Wayfaring: Photography in 1970s-80s Taiwan'(2021) and 'Between: Picturing 1950-1960s Taiwan'(2016). His publications include John Young: The History Projects (2025), Zhang Peili: From Painting to Video (2019) and Asia through Art and Anthropology: Cultural Translation Across Borders (with F. Nakamura and M. Perkins, 2013). Krischer is currently a lecturer at the University of New South Wales School of Art & Design.
Dr. Shuxia Chen is a historian and curator of Chinese art and photography. Her research concerns cultural network, art collectives, and amateur and diasporic artistic practice in the Sinophone world. Her recent published edited volumes include Wayfaring: Photography in Taiwan, 1950s–1980s (2025), A Home for Photography Learning: The Friday Salon, 1977–1980 (2024) and Chinese Toggles: Culture in Miniature (2024). Her recent curatorial projects include ‘The trace is not a presence …’ (2024), 'Chinese Toggles: Culture in Miniature' (2023), ‘Sentient Paper’ (2022) and ‘Wayfaring: Photography in 1970s–80s Taiwan’ (2021). Chen was the inaugural curator of the China Gallery and East Asian Collections at the University of Sydney’s Chau Chak Wing Museum. She is currently a lecturer in the Master of Curating and Cultural Leadership at the University of New South Wales School of Art & Design.