Between Being and Becoming: Wong Wang Chuen’s Gaze on Beipu
At RED Photo Gallery in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district, a visual narrative from Taiwan is quietly unfolding. Curated by 1839 Contemporary Gallery, “Wong Wang Chuen: The Water is Wide” is not merely a Taiwan-Japan art exchange but a profound inquiry into the essence of life.
As an “outsider” who has lived in Beipu, Hsinchu for ten years, Wong Wang Chuen’s lens captures both the ordinary and extraordinary aspects of this Taiwanese town. “Witnessing a funeral every two weeks on average,” this frequency has made death an unavoidable theme in his work. However, this is not an elegy about death, but a meditation on the cycle of life.
The most striking series in the exhibition documents a funeral scene in the scorching summer. Wong presents, in a direct yet respectful manner, how the atmosphere of death envelops the entire village and how villagers continue their lives under such circumstances. “The whole village seemed to be decaying before my eyes (or was it just in a deep slumber?),” this observation serves as both a metaphor for rural decline and an inquiry into the nature of existence.
His works design cleverly guides visitors along a path simulating a river, symbolizing “the water is wide, difficult to cross” mentioned in Wong creative statement. Along the way, images transition from black-to-white, from death rituals to the growth of newborns, forming a visual narrative about the cycle of life.
Curator I-Chien CHIU states: “Wong Wang Chuen’s work transcends traditional documentary photography. He not only records phenomena but attempts to ‘find some unchanging core beneath the flux of phenomenal arising and passing away.’ This is the most precious quality of contemporary photography—exploring the essence of existence through images.”
For Tokyo audiences living in a high-speed urban environment, this exhibition provides a rare opportunity to contemplate the rhythm and meaning of life. Meanwhile, for those following the development of Taiwanese contemporary photography, Wong’s work demonstrates how Taiwan’s new generation of photographers addresses local issues with a global perspective. With an exhibition period of only two weeks, this feast of visuals and philosophical contemplation invites viewers to cross that “wide water” and find their own position and answers in the dialectic of life and death, old and new, staying and leaving.
Wong Wang Chuen
Born in 1986, Wong Wang Chuen is a Hong Kong photographer currently living in Beipu, Hsinchu, a Hakka village in Northwestern Taiwan. The Water is Wide has been an ongoing project for the past 8 years, in which he seeks to explore the concealed interconnectedness between the apparently disjunctive elements in life. His work has been exhibited in Taiwan, Japan and Germany.
Exhibition Statement
Ashes and fire fluttering and disappearing in the wind; dust and earth intertwining and rolling in the water. The elements are in constant flux and cycle, neither arising nor ceasing.
As a outsider having lived in Beipu (a Hakka village in Northwestern Taiwan) for the past 10 years, I encounter, on average, a funeral once every two weeks—I don’t know how many I have seen. It was a hot summer day, and as I was passing by a funeral, there was a sharp putrid smell of decaying flesh wafting out of the bereaved family’s house. A few days later I could still smell it in my head—it’s as if the whole village were rotting (or was it just being lulled to sleep?) right in front of me. I wonder if it’s me dying; perchance dreaming.
In the dark, I slowly crawl to the river bank. Under the moonlight, the water has a silvery sheen, flowing gradually.
The water is wide, I can’t cross over.
“All things are impermanent—this is the law of arising and extinguishing.” Irrevocably, all life leads to death, all desires come to decay, yet, caught in this torrent of the ephemeral, I am still searching for, and intrigued by, the eternal—it’s calling to me.
Perhaps the river of Life will eventually flow towards nothingness, yet for the moment, at least, the white-hot sky hanging above is still making me feel light-headed—and meanwhile, I must first pull my head above the water.
1839 Contemporary x RED Photo Gallery (Tokyo) Exchange Exhibition
《Wong Wang Chuen – The Water is Wide》
Exhibition Period｜September 15, 2025 – September 28, 2025
Opening｜Art talk｜Sat. September 20, 2025 17:30 – 19:00
Photo Talk｜Wong Wang Chuen、I-Chien CHIU (curator)
Venue｜RED Photo Gallery (Tokyo, Japan)
2F, Modern Building, 1-2-11 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0022 (3-minute walk from Shinjuku Gyoenmae Station on the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line)
