Island Mythology - Description of Chang Ko Hsiang’s Art Creation

[[abstract]]Abstract There exist two contradictory but symmetrical qualities in an Island in terms of its unique geographic character; these are the qualities of closeness and openness. The similar contradictive symmetry on the material level and the mental level of life also resides in the Taiwanese society. The symmetry is puzzling but also enchanting, and it is this perception of the society prompts me to create the series of works. Before the practical creation being engaged, I have tried to investigate the society of the Island, Taiwan, in two different ways, which are respectively the observation on the realistic phenomenon of the society and the textual reading of mythology. The key point in the first part, the observation on the Taiwanese society, stands at the seeking of the collective consciousness of the public, which is developed in the social context. I shall approach the issue by analysing the phenomenon related to the folk religion in Taiwanese society, and to scrutinize the “primitive-like” social behaviour or social consciousness. The discussion shall focus on the phenomenon arising from the folk religion, which includes the dialogic relationship between the sacred and the secular, and the psychotherapy manipulated by the witch doctors. Additionally the thesis shall examine the influence of the folk religion on the masses in terms of its characteristics of utilitarianism (which can be found in the masses’ anticipation of the effect of spells) and the servility in the deities, in expectation to explain the faith of apotheosis. Apart from the interpretation of the social phenomenon, textual analysis of mythology shall be embarked on in this thesis. The association of the social phenomenon and the ancient primitive mythology is expected to be the impulse of the following practical creation. The two main systems of mythology adopted in this thesis to construe the social phenomenon are the origin of human and the floods. In the former system, it shall look at the propositions concerning not only about the birth of human beings, but also about the speciation and the distortion of human beings. With regard to the latter, the disappearance and the regeneration of the species, in which a perspective that the life is circular is implied, shall be discussed. What going along with the observation of the realistic phenomenon of society and the textual reading of mythology is the practical creation, which proceeds in two different ways. One of those is the literary creation, which includes the following two books: Dao Nan Can Pian (a mythological chronicle), and Wu Ge Shen Shin(a work of poetry). The plots of the origination of the world, the transformation of human beings, and the extermination of the world are involved in these works to reflect the phenomenon of the Taiwanese society. The other manner of creation is the pieces of painting, which are revealed in the mode of floating of numerous human-like objects to embody the mythological scene described in the poetry and its ideology. The parallel proceeding of creation makes the work be displayed beyond the fashion of image, and endows it with the possibility to show the sacredness which dwells in the historical poetry, and the unique aesthetic of narrative poetry. Key words: island, mythology, the faith of witch, homology