Draft:Yuma Taru

Exhibitions

Yuma Taru was born in 1963, she is an Taiwanese aboriginal artist from the Atayal from Taiwan’s central and northern mountainous region. She obtained her master's degree from Fu Jen Catholic University and is dedicated to preserving the weaving techniques and traditional culture of the Atayal people through her art. She has not only devoted herself to the 50-Year Plan for Revitalizing Ataya Culture, she also established Atayal Weaving Exhibitions with the goal of rediscovering and preserving her lost cultural heritage. In recognition of her contributions, she was awarded the title of the Important Preserver of Traditional Artists in Atayal dyeing and weaving techniques.

Early life
Yuma Taru was born in 1963 in Daan Tribe, Miaoli Country in Taiwan. She is a descendant of the Atayal from her mother and Han ethnicity from her father. The Atayal tribe is well-known for their excellent weaving skills. The technique of weaving is a closely guarded family secret, passed down only to direct blood relatives who are entrusted with its preservation and continuation. Weaving skills also represent the position of women and her family within the tribe.

In 1987, she graduated from a Chinese literature department in National Chung Hsing University. In 1992, she became a Chinese teacher in Tung-Shin Junior High School, which was an admirable profession among people in her tribe. She devoted herself to teaching for ten years while also working at a manufacturer crafting weaving products for work-related purposes. She was astonished to find that as an Atayal person, she was unfamiliar with Atayal weaving products and surprised by the lack of literature on the topic, then she quit the job by returning to her tribe to rebuild the disappearing traditional techniques.

In 1998, she held a master's degree with the Textile Research Institute from Fu Jen Catholic University. During her two years of graduate studies, She conducted meticulous field research by visiting more than a hundred villages belonging to eight different Atayal subtribes. She documented the life histories of tribe elders and the significant role of weaving in their lives and communities. In the next year, she devoted herself to the 50-Year Plan for Revitalizing Ataya Culture and established an Atayal Weaving Exhibition, with the goal of rediscovering and preserving her lost cultural heritage.

In order to revitalize the primitive weaving techniques, she initiated the ecological restoration process, encompassing tasks such as planting ramie, extracting fibers, dyeing, and weaving the fabric.

Achievements
Yuma Taru, as a preserver of Atayal art, has been devoting herself to restoring the original appearance of the Atayal tribe’s primitive dyeing and weaving techniques. For the Atayal people, weaving represents a cultural record of the weaver's life and creations. The circle of life is a significant concept, which involves coming into the world through a symbolic “rainbow bridge” or “bridge of the gods,” and returning to the ancestral land. Through traditional weaving, she combines the memories of ethnic groups with contemporary culture, arousing awareness of the preservation and conservation of cultural heritage.

Style
Starting from the research about creation of traditional weaving of the Tayal indigenous people in Taiwan, Yuma Taru focuses on various linear materials in both traditional and contemporary contexts, engaging in artistic creation rooted in traditional culture. Boehmeria nivea is a crucial material for weaving in Atayal culture, and it undergoes multiple processes to complete dyeing and weaving. Yuma's artistic creations encompass paintings and Atayal traditional clothes using boehmeria nivea.

Cultural Integration: From Traditional to Contemporary

Through a series of research, investigation, and analysis, Yuma Taru reconstructs the patterns of traditional Tayal weaving. She gradually moves forward into contemporary art creation. In recent years, She has attempted to integrate expectations for the cultural transmission of daughter into the texture of the fabric, incorporating innovation in Tayal weaving culture. Her works mostly use ramie threads cultivated, processed, and dyed in her own workshop. She combines them with natural materials such as wool, metal, stone, etc. Using techniques like weaving, knitting, embroidery, and wrapping, she creates installations with balanced linear patterns, proportions, and a low-saturation, earthy color palette. This showcases the simple and elegant beauty of Tayal weaving, exuding a tranquil, dignified, and refined atmosphere.

Works
When Yuma Taru was 30 years old, she quit her job as a Chinese teacher and went back to the tribe, dedicating herself to the revival of dying Atayal traditional culture. She has produced a diverse range of pieces, including various art crafts and traditional Atayal clothes.

The Island’s Four Seasons (島嶼・四季) is 58 meters in length and 3.5 meters in height, crafted in 2015. Island・Four Seasons is made of ramie and wool. It shows the feelings and colors in the four seasons in front of visitors from abroad through the complicated weaving styles.

Era of Dream Building (築夢時代) is 6 meters in length and 2.2 meters in height, created in 2009. The work depicts natural elements such as forests, land, water, sky, and breezes, using traditional Atayal weaving materials like ramie, Agave sisalana fiber, and wool, as well as modern materials like stone.

This gigantic art craft, L'liung Penux (Early Death of a River, 河殤), created in 2017, is made up of ramie and wool. Atayal people in Alang Liung Penux used to live near the Da-an River and created many specific cultural aspects. However, the overquarrying of the riverbeds left the Da'an River nothing but complete devastation. The story behind L'liung Penux is that Yuma Taru wishes to see the original, pure Da-an River again after the environmental restoration.

The Spiral of Life — The Tongue of the ClothVI (yan pala na hmali), created in 2021, is made up of ramie, yarn of ramie and cotton, steel wool, metallic yarn. The Atayal view life as predestined in the heavens, symbolized by intersecting circles. She preserves and innovates Atayal weaving culture, linking it to their values and history. Atayal weaving reflects life's interconnectedness. Yuma Taru's 50-year plan revives Atayal weaving, merging traditional and modern practices, and emphasizing cultural continuity.

Awards
Yuma Taru contributes herself to both society and her own culture through two initiatives: the 50-Year Atayal Culture Revival Project (泰雅文化復興50年計畫) in 1991, and the establishment of Lihang Studio (野桐工坊) in 2002. The 50-Year Atayal Culture Revival Project spans five decades, each with specific goals.

1991-2001
Yuma Taru conducted fieldwork on traditional Atayal clothing weaving skills, styles, and patterns. She visited museums and institutions in Japan that house Atayal cultural artifacts and to inspect the Atayal textile collections.

2001-2011
She published an essay focusing on Atayal clothing and supported the cultivation of weaving skills among tribe residents, particularly women, revitalizing the ancestral clothing traditions.

2011-2021
Yuma Taru has advocated for the transformation of Da Guan Elementary School into P'uma Elementary School, the first experimental elementary school for indigenous people. Additionally, she established S'uraw kindergarten to provide cultural education to children.

2021-2031
Recognizing economic hardship within the community, Yuma Taru has advocated a homecoming movement, promoting a self-sufficient economic system centered around the cultivation of ramie and its comprehensive utilization. She hopes to begin with traditional outfits, hoping to promote Taiwan's aboriginal culture to the world and conduct international exchanges.

2031-2041
The goal at this phase is to nurture individuals with a global perspective, leading to efforts to expand the living area and cultural activities to broader horizons.

After the 921 Earthquake in 2002, she has relocated to Tai'an Township for post-disaster reconstruction while pursuing her master's degree. During this period, she founded Lihang Studio. The studio lies in providing women with the means to earn a living independently, especially for those without family support or stable marriage. Due to the limited working opportunities, Lihang Studio can help them to restore confidience and dignity.

Taipei Fashion Week AW23
In Taipei Fashion Week AW23, Yuma Taru uses LED fiber-optic threads to create a weaving and dyeing effect, combined with Atayal traditional hand weaving and natural dyeing skills. In the Taipei fashion week AW23, she collaborated with Taiwanese fashion brand Chia-hung Su (Chinese: 蘇家紘), which has been committed to tracing the origin of Taiwanese culture, exploring the continuity and extension of aboriginal culture from the migration of Austronesian people to the Japanese colonial period. They also incorporated traditional Taiwanese Aboriginal and Japanese craftsmanship, wabi-sabi aesthetics, and modern fashion silhouettes. At the event, the show opened with a set of traditional Atayal wedding dresses from the collection of the National Museum of Prehistory, followed by this clothing series depicting the timeline of Taiwanese Aboriginal culture.

First Wave: Contemporary Australian and Taiwanese Indigenous Fashion Exhibition 2022
This exhibition was held in Taiwan and Australia between 2022 and 2023, presenting the first aboriginal ethnic groups under the colonial experience of Taiwan and Australian colonization and combining it with the contemporary element as the innovation. This mirrored the mainstream culture and fashion industry, continuously connected the land, ethnic groups and their contemporary identity, and offered fashion propositions. She borrowed the idea of “the First Nation”, regarding aboriginal people as the pioneers on the island, redefining the identity of indigenous people.

She collaborated with the Australian artist Lyn-AI Young and brought the message that fashion was not limited to the shape, color, and quality, it also implies the designers’ thoughts and reflection to the world. By doing so, artists and designers could influence the society and bring impact to the world and culture.

Return to the Wilderness: Exhibition of Aboriginal Art 2023

This show explored the irreversible fading of tribal scenes, such as ancient chants, totems, and craftsmanship between tradition and contemporary times. Five artists were invited to return to tribal life after living away from their hometowns for years, including Yuma Taru from the Tayal, Labay Eyong from the Taroko, Aluaiy Kaumakan from the Paiwan, and Milay Mavaliw and Iming Mafaliw from the Pinuyumayan. These artists from diverse backgrounds looked back on their life journeys.

These artworks aimed to reflect on the cultural and historical contexts, situations, aesthetics, and the interdependence with nature of Taiwan's indigenous people. The term "Return" signified people's anxiety and dissatisfaction with contemporary society and presented complex situations for these creators with different backgrounds and identity affiliations. It also harbored a desire to reconnect with nature, maternal cultures, and spiritual dimensions.

Tracing and Drifting
Yuma Taru presented hand-woven artworks created over a span of thirty years. The exhibition comprised three main sections, including works that result from her research and analysis, the present circumstances of indigenous people in central Taiwan, a journey through the rich fields of wild lilies along the Da'an River in their memories.

The Spiral of Life — The Tongue of the ClothVI
As a member of the Atayal community. Yuma Taru depicted the concept believed in her tribe, a person’s life is “a work woven in the heavens”. Through "The Spiral of Life", she exploited intersecting incomplete circles to symbolize the way people interact with each other and the open-mindedness of Atayal people, implying Atayal people's welcoming attitude toward others.

This large-scale spiral weaving installation implies that the Atayal elders can manage difficulties and anxieties of their descendants with experience, wisdom, and tolerance, and smoothly resolve their children's disputes.

Awards

 * 2006
 * Yuma Taru was the recipient of National Living Treasure announced by the Bureau of Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture (CCA, Council for Cultural Affairs) and also named The Important Traditional Craft Preserver in the weaving category by the Ministry of Culture for her effort to preserve traditional Atayal weaving culture and her skills of weaving.


 * 2007-2008
 * She won the prizes of Most Outstanding and Best Local Engagement in Public Art Work . Since her work conveys the concept of a mixture of indigenous elements, the judges gave her the recognition after visiting the work in person and listening to her presentation.
 * Moreover, her work Spreading  the  Wings  of  Dreams. was sent to the National Gallery of Canada for exhibition with three other indigenous artists, Walis Labai and Kulele Rulada, on behalf of Taiwan


 * 2015
 * She received the prize of The Outstanding Alumni in Social Service and Catholic Spirit Promotion by Fu Jen Catholic University . Before that, in 1991, she came back to the tribe and spent years acquiring Atayal's traditional weaving skills to undertake the craft's inheritance. Aside from these, she promoted the tribal education, practicing the Catholic spirit by contributing to building the Atayal Traditional Dyeing and Weaving Cultural Park . Then, in 2002, she became the first director of the Association of Indigenous Crafts in Miaoli and received the funding from the 1st Keep Walking sponsor project . To recognize what she had done to keep traditional arts, Fu Jen Catholic University decided to give her this award.


 * 2021
 * She won the prize of Environment Integration in Public Art Work again due to her contribution to public space.