Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture

Comments on the Finalist

In this complete solo exhibition, Pastor Stanley FUNG has captured the spirituality of the photographed subject in his various photographic series in a delicate yet natural way. The main series could be read through the lens of Christian iconography, but also demonstrates the unique Taiwanese culture and nature, conveying a kind of humanistic characteristic that is universal.

Another series that features the hands of people of different colors and sexes creates a rather simple yet moving pas de deux that is full of emotions without showing people's faces, tranquilly expressing the photographer's care for the world as well as his artistic caliber.The fiber installations in the exhibition co-created by FUNG and his church members also appropriately choreograph the route of viewing the exhibition in a subtle yet elegant manner. (Commentator:  LIN Chi-Ming)

Artwork Introduction

Stanley FUNG's photographic work has been praised to be one of the most profound works in the Chinese-speaking world by photographer RUAN Yi-Zhong. FUNG says that his photography conveys the attention to faith, or to be more precise, it is a quest to understand how human beings are limited and transgress in terms of perceiving the world. Such examination reveals how the "Tao" that testifies to the spirit of Christ is formed and manifested in this world.

In this exhibition, FUNG especially quotes Laozi's Tao Te Ching, which states "Tao is a hollow vessel, and its use is inexhaustible! Fathomless! Like the fountain head of all things; its sharp edges rounded off, its tangles untied, its light tempered, its turmoil submerged. Yet dark like deep water it seems to remain. I do not know whose Son it is, an image of what existed before God." When we can become tempered with the light and submerged with the turmoil of the world we inhabit, the world unfolds in a way to show the "image of what existed before God," or the origin of Tao, which can only be sensed and cannot be explained. For this reason, FUNG's Soften the Light Hidden in the Dust is not only a religious testament of a clergyman but also an artistic writing on the secular world by a mature, philosophical mind in the contemporary era.

About the Artist

Born in Hong Kong in 1961, Stanley FUNG moved to Taiwan as a child with his missionary father, who established the first Methodist Church in Chiayi. As a teenager, he joined the Church's teenage fellowship, where he was bestowed the gift of faith, and later, received confirmation and became a Christian. He studied at Fu-Hsin Trade and Arts School, where he learned immensely from Mr. TUNG Chen-Ping. In 1982, he was inspired by RUAN Yi-Zhong's solo exhibitions, Beipu and Bachimen, and started his photographic creation. In 1996, he entered Taiwan Theological College and Seminary to study and train in Christian social work, and completed the MA program in 2003, and started preaching. He was ordained as a pastor in 2008, and now serves at Blessedness Church in Shilin.