The first private Aboriginal museum
Approaching the museum, one is struck by the exterior, which resembles a huge seated Aboriginal warrior, wearing a helmet and holding a saber. In the lobby, flanking the entrance to the museum proper, are a traditional fishing boat and a carved stone panel dedicated to the ancestors, representing both the maritime and mountainous aspects of Aboriginal culture. As museum director Lin Wei-cheng explains, of Taiwan’s many Aboriginal tribes, only two—the Amis and the Tao—have traditionally made their livings off the ocean, which is why the museum made a special effort to display a traditional Tao fishing boat, ensuring the seafaring side of Aboriginal culture is represented.
The stone panel, on the left of the entrance, is a part of the hunting culture of the Paiwan. This one was designed by Paiwan artist Sakuliu Pavavalung, a sculptor, potter, and installation artist, who was specially commissioned by the museum for the work.
Named Divination Before a Hunting Adventure, it depicts a pre-hunt fortune-telling ritual conducted by Paiwan shamanesses. Where one might expect the main focus to be on the hunters, they only appear at the bottom of this two-meter-tall panel, with the majority of the space occupied by the shamaness. Lin explains that while this may seem counterintuitive to many visitors, it’s far from unexpected, and actually reflects the high status of shamans in Paiwan society.
Shung Ye Museum’s permanent collection is housed over three floors: the second and third floors, along with the first basement floor. Among the exhibits on the second floor, which focuses on everyday tools from Aboriginal life, one can see pottery and hunting implements. Hunting and farming are generally considered the domain of men in Aboriginal societies, and as such the second floor can be described as “the realm of men.” The third floor, showcasing weaving techniques and clothing, is “the realm of women.” And on the first basement floor is “the realm of gods,” exhibiting items related to the faiths, traditions, and rituals of the Aboriginal tribes.
Of particular note is that many of the seemingly mundane explanations of the items on display were written by Aborigines. Most museums, says Lin, get the descriptions of their exhibits written by scholars. While this gives those descriptions strong foundations in theory, it also leaves them distant from the practical aspects of the exhibits. “But we don’t want to simply look at tribal cultures from an outsider’s perspective; instead, we want to hear from those who live the culture and are intimately familiar with the traditions, the Aboriginal residents and elders themselves.”
And so the slate house on display on the second floor is accompanied by a description by Rukai elder Auvini Kadresengan, while National Taiwan Normal University professor and Tsou tribe member Wang Ming-huey subverts the usual stereotypes of Aboriginal drinking culture with an exploration of its origins. So committed is the museum to letting Aboriginal people speak for themselves that since its first year of operation it has held a special exhibition called “Together with the Indigenous Village,” giving Aborigines more chances to tell their own stories. The first of these saw Sun Ta-chuan, current vice-president of the Control Yuan and also known by his Aboriginal name of Paelabang Danapan, talk about growing up in the Puyuma village of Pinaski (known in Mandarin as Binlang).
Since its establishment in 1994 by Shung Ye Group chairman Safe C. F. Lin, the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines has remained one of the few privately owned Aboriginal museums in Taiwan. Museum director Lin Wei-cheng explains that early museums in Taiwan tended to focus on either Taiwanese art or Aboriginal artifacts, but with the establishment of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, people began thinking about the potential overlap between those two areas. Museum founder Safe Lin has thus far donated some 500-plus items to the collection, while over 1500 more have come from other collectors and tribal elders, expanding the collection to over 2000 pieces.
To attract more visitors, the museum regularly puts new and innovative items on display, and just this year the usually static museum added several dynamic, interactive elements. Divination Before a Hunting Adventure, for example, has been the subject of a light show of sorts since early this year, with lifelike moving images of shamanesses and hunters projected over the panel.
The Rukai slate house on the second floor sports a similar feature. A large LED screen hangs above the house, showing intermediate- to low-altitude broadleaf forests, to give visitors the feeling of standing in front of a real Rukai chief’s house and experiencing authentic Aboriginal culture.
A newly incorporated projection show, crafted to be reminiscent of traditional stone carving, seems to bring Paiwan hunting tradition to life before visitors’ eyes.