“Imagination is your superpower!” This well-known advertising slogan could be said to be the inspiration for our cover story this month on illustrators in Taiwan.
The Illustrators Exhibition of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, a major international bellwether for illustrators, has invited many Taiwanese illustrators to participate in recent years. Several have even earned mention among the winners of the coveted Ragazzi Awards. Despite different styles and themes, they share in common the power of imagination and the ability to transcend borders.
Our feature takes Taiwan as its launch point and flies across to the Bologna Illustrators Exhibition. You will learn about the creators of picture books in Taiwan and the state of the picture-book publishing sector, and how these two private-sector groups join forces to offer the world a visual feast.
Have you forgotten how much joy there can be in simple stories? Just open an illustrated book and enter this alternate world, and you will see how creators use rich brushstrokes and lines to convey a secret language of their very own.
“The power of imagination is far greater than that of reality.” So says Gong Jow-jiun, one of the curators of the 2017 Soulangh International Contemporary Art Festival.
The festival broke the stereotype of folk religious art by bringing together 38 traditional painters and modern artists to produce outstanding works in a variety of media. The public was invited to the Soulangh Culture Park in Tainan to enjoy the interaction between traditional temple culture and modern art.
Whistling music master Lee Chen-chi and his son Lee Yu-lun have likewise broken with conventions and changed the world by using whistling to perform classical music.
With the Dragon Boat Festival behind us, summer is well and truly here. At this time of year, the heat of the sun beating down on beautiful Penghu Bay is matched only by the enthusiasm with which visitors from home and abroad are welcomed.
Following our articles on Kaohsiung, Taichung, and Yilan, Taiwan Panorama’s series on different localities goes offshore for the first time to visit the Penghu Islands, recording our impressions of their beaches and impressive basalt formations, and hearing first hand from Penghu magistrate Cheng Kuang-fu about the sights that make Penghu residents most proud.
In this issue we also bring you a feature on the world of vinyl records. Our reporters visited Kaohsiung’s Meinong District and Hsinchu County’s Zhubei City to introduce you to two towering figures in this realm: Wang Hsinkai, head of the Classical Palace Society, and Wang Qiguang, founder of Vinyl Depot. Even if you were born in the digital age, you are welcome to join us in turning back the clock to revisit the age of vinyl records.
