Rash
● 展覽介紹 Exhibition Statement：
我過往因為從事媒體編輯工作，經常需要接觸國內外的生活風格雜誌。這些雜誌所呈現的居家圖像中，有特定幾種熱帶植栽，頻繁出現在畫面中，扮演象徵好品味的綠意。如果在溫帶歐美的居家環境放置這些植栽，能喚起人們關於熱帶樂園的想像，那麼當亞熱帶的台灣人於家中種植這些植物時，是否其實心中想像的是西方雜誌上的品味呢？
在台灣，這些熱帶品種在山野隨處可見，但將植栽搬回家的人們，很可能希望自己能活出雜誌扉頁中的優雅生活。我對植物被視為品味的象徵感到很不安，但促使我開始研究人類圈養植物的歷史，是在後來造訪倫敦皇家植物園時，這股相似的不安感又再次襲來。
倫敦皇家植物園的熱帶溫室是園內熱門景點，當遊客踏進溫室，置身高濕高溫的水霧中，很難不被玻璃罩內充滿異國風情的植物所迷惑。這座世界最大的植物園，不僅僅是遊客眼中夢幻的香格里拉，更展示了英國從十六世紀開始自世界各地搜集的植物活標本。
歐洲從十六世紀開始建造植物園，藉以保存地理大發現收獲而來的植物，並進行科學與醫藥方面的研究。與此同時，歐洲的權貴紛紛建造私人溫室，透過圈養熱帶植物，來炫耀自己的財富。十九世紀，倫敦水晶宮舉辦了一場盛況空前的世界博覽會，商人與旅行家展示來自各國的珍寶，從當時文獻記載可以發現，除了展售的攤商，水晶宮內還種植了不少熱帶植物，用以增添會場內的異國情調。過了工業時代，當一般民眾能輕易負擔室內暖氣系統後，以熱帶植栽妝點居家環境的風潮，也漸行普及。雖然以熱帶植物象徵上等階級的品味，已經是數世紀前的社會現象，但附加在這些植物上的品味標記，是否隱隱流傳到了今天？則是我遲遲未能證明的懸念。
我以此懸念為出發點，拍攝一系列用於室內裝潢的熱帶植物。這些植物入夜後反映著都市彩燈，在黯夜中彷彿婀娜妖女，與白天判若兩樣。我想藉由記錄下植栽在人為環境中的詭異樣貌，呈現熱帶植物長期被以窺奇眼光注目的處境。
Rash is a project focusing on tropical plants cultivated in foreign countries and their interactions with urban landscapes. It stems from my interest in exploring how the imaginaries of contemporary lifestyles have been shaped by botanical history during the colonial period since the 16th century.
The botanical garden is a perfect example of European colonial conquest; it showcases a wide variety of plants collected from around the world during the colonial period. In botanical gardens, cacti can be grown under the same roof as orchids, ignoring the fact that their origins range from Asia to South America. The unsettling feeling I experienced when visiting botanical gardens might come from my empathy for these tropical plants, which have never been able to settle since the 16th century, when European explorers began colonizing the tropics and relocating botanicals from their native homes.
I was visited by similar unsettling feelings when I noticed the trend of cultivating tropical plants in apartments—whether in the temperate climates of Western Europe or in subtropical Taiwan—where the environment does not provide adequate conditions for tropical plants to thrive.
When I look through a magazine and see a beautiful apartment featuring tropical houseplants, I always wonder why the image suggests a tasteful living space; after all, the plants are not in their ideal growing environment. If the tropical houseplant symbolizes the tropical dream in temperate European countries, what do they represent when cultivated in a tropical country like Taiwan? By exploring contemporary landscapes through photographs, I aim to uncover the hidden messages these tropical plants may hold.
