On January 10, the photography exhibition Silent Strength-Marcel Marceau, featuring the works of Diago Chiu, a well known photographer engaged in his own battle with cancer, was just starting at the Beitou Citizen House. On January 14, Chiu's life made its final "curtain call" in the hospice ward of the Taipei Medical University Hospital.
If life is a play, then all throughout his, Diago Chiu has played his character to the utmost of his ability. Even as the cancer cells unrelentingly spread from his liver and lungs to his brain, up until the very last moment he was still planning exhibitions, longing for life, never willing to give up the fight....
The miraculous comeback for which Chiu prayed did not take place, but in his brave fight against cancer, all of his friends who were by his side witnessed a miracle.
As the curtain dropped on his "play," our infinite remembrance of him began....
In the summer of 2008, Diago Chiu began to experiment with infrared photography. In Taichung Park, on the banks of the Danshui River, in the streets around Taipei's Dunhua South Road... anywhere and everywhere, he would eagerly hunt down images.
They looked like black-and-white snowscapes, conveying a kind of surreal, strange visual atmosphere-just like Chiu's frame of mind, which, although lingering between the realms of life and death, was nonetheless clear and calm, free and easy.
Even though the body cannot break away from the bonds of fate, the mind and spirit can soar through space, free and uninhibited.
(facing page, top) After seeing everything in black and white, one can only look forward to an evergreen tree of life.(facing page, bottom) Go on, leap as high as you can, throw yourself towards the white clouds and the blue sky until the mountains and sea are all beneath your feet....
In September 2008, Diago Chiu was hospitalized at National Taiwan University Hospital. Still tightly grasping his camera, he left behind a series of beautiful images for the rest of the world.
(facing page, top) After seeing everything in black and white, one can only look forward to an evergreen tree of life.(facing page, bottom) Go on, leap as high as you can, throw yourself towards the white clouds and the blue sky until the mountains and sea are all beneath your feet....
Once you've finished singing, I will go on stage-life is but a dream.
@List.jpg?w=522&h=410&mode=crop&format=webp&quality=80)
