During the four years I spent photographing scarecrows all over Taiwan, I never considered what my true motivations were. If I really were to try to say, I think "documenting them" might have been my innocent aim at the outset!
Nearly 500 scarecrows from different places, during different seasons, with different appearances, have developed within the borders of the film. What could not emerge at the same time were the long, slow process of hunting them down and the discouraging reality that as time goes on, they are harder and harder to find.
Where have all the scarecrows gone? On the road it's not hard to be discouraged, but my travels let me become familiar with Taiwan's countryside and the changes that are happening there, as well as the farming folk's hardship and sorrows. Once a simple and friendly old farmer pedaled his bicycle and enthusiastically pointed out all the scarecrows hidden away in the area, and while he was talking, he inadvertently revealed the scant profits made from planting and harvesting rice, insufficient to sustain life.
The farms can no longer hold young people, nor can they support the scarecrows. The common use of pesticides and pennants has left farmers with no need to weave and bind a presentable scarecrow. With declining profits, many people lay down the plow, and the fields are covered by new country villas. After this year's scarecrows grow tattered and fall down, only a few old farmers will persist in standing the proud scarecrows up in the paddy, to keep those elderly farmer's lonely silhouettes company as they make their way home.
I like to call the scarecrows a "disappearing people." This is also the reason I have anxiously thrown my efforts into photographing their few remaining images. I like to follow the memories from my own childhood to deconstruct the likenesses of the scarecrow that emerge through my lens. I have mixed my memories into my photographic approach, in this way expressing the strong emotions I felt as a child toward scarecrows and the soil of the fields. The scarecrow is the playmate of many a country child's memory. In times past he kept countless farm kids company through those innocent years of youth.
When passing through a rice field once, I thought, one day I will hold a photo exhibition for these farmers, to let people come and see the truly loveable appearance of the scarecrows, lashed together by the rough, thick hands of the gentle yeomen, and how much artistry they possess. So I have often photographed scarecrows as pieces of art. Every scarecrow is some farmer's one-and-only work of art.
After taking photos for more than four years, I was not in a hurry to hold an exhibition, but I was in a hurry to have these scarecrows show their faces and help more people recollect the countryside scenes of their childhood. Perhaps when people draw them up from their memories and take them to heart, scarecrows might tarry for awhile, and not so quickly march into the pages of history!
September 1994, Tahu Rural Township, Ilan The first time I saw this scarecrow, he was a gallant and proud fellow, clutching two poles as he stood in the paddy. The second time I saw him, the rice, once ripe and golden, had been put to the sickle. In its place, the farmers had planted many taro plants, and the scarecrow had been abandoned at the side of a reservoir not far from an irrigation canal.
August 1994, Szuchieh Rural Township, Ilan In the countryside, the farmers usually spend their time in the fields, frequently leaving the old, the infirm, the women and children alone at the house. So, the farmer here threw together this scarecrow, decorated like a policeman, to stand nearby the house and watch over things, and while it 's at it, to keep an eye on the fields too.
October 1994, Chuoshui River, Yunlin This is the most miserable of all the scarecrows I've seen. All day long it guards the fields, and it also has to hold up a big tub. Its powerand majesty fill me with quite a feeling of awe, but the little sparrows have made a rest-and-recreation center out of the round tub on its head, which was meant to give it refuge from the sun and rain.
October 1994, Chuoshui River, Yunlin Along with the progress of the times, scarecrows are also becoming more modern. In the countryside it's not at all surprising to come across mannequin scarecrows of this sort. This variety of scarecrow has the best acting ability; it's the latest product, considered to have the most potential for frightening sparrows away, and it's guaranteed not to decompose.
September 1994, Hsiluo, Yunlin Scarecrows usually have their attention riveted on whatever task lies in front of their eyes. So when I see them, I intuitively take note of what it is they are gazing at. This scarecrow, however, is absolutely traditional. She seems to be walk ing excitedly in front of your eyes. But the rice field next to her has turned into no thing but a backdrop. That seems to make no difference to her.
December 1994, Yuanshan, Ilan The perfectly stock-still scarecrows are people who have been framed. Sometimes they appear to be goalkeepers who must scare away every sparrow that happens to flit by.
November 1994, Chuangwei, Ilan Scarecrows have feelings too. Looking at them while the sun is setting, I am often touched by the elegance and loneliness they emanate.
December 1994, Chuangwei, Ilan This is the plight which every scarecrow must face sooner or later. Only an extremely few long-lived scarecrows, bound together firm and full, a re left to do their duty as long as they don't fall down. The farmers still let them stand in the fields, and sometimes they are stored away, to wait for the next planting season when they once again can serve the farmers. Those scarecrows that tumble to the earth--if they're not left to rot--are put to the flame.
August 1993, Chuangwei, Ilan I photographed this scarecrow for two years, from the time it was a whole beautiful scarecrow, to the very last, when it was nothing but a cross made of sticks. The aura of slow denouement that emerged seemed to bespeaking for the entire traditional scarecrow culture of Taiwan's farming villages, which are also marching toward the end. （photos text by Chin Cheng-tsai／tr. by Brent Heinrich）
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