食人之界－梁廷毓 個展

同類相殘者（Cannibals）一詞在近世之後被賦予了明確意義，使用於殖民者遭逢到的難纏族類，以及被視為抵制、挑釁外地商人和定居者的非人野獸。19世紀發生於北台灣淺山地帶漢人武裝聚落的食人行為，在殖民者眼中同樣令人無法直視。這一處「食人之界」，在本展覽中指向漢人侵墾、移住歷史上，處在界線另一端原住民群體的反視，但也不僅如此。作為「斷頭河計畫」的一部分，延續藝術家梁廷毓過去的《番肉考》（众藝術Zone Art，2018），以及〈龍潭、關西地區的「食番肉」記憶〉（第十屆客家文化傳承與發展學術研討會，2019）等文論及展演發表。圍繞在北臺灣淺山地帶的「食番肉」傳聞，除了對不同語言權力的歷史文本背後之觀察者視角的重新演繹，也藉由客家、閩南、原住民人群之間關於食人者（anthropophagus）的敘事，在視覺、氣味、口感、觸感等感官記憶（sensory memory）之口述歷史取徑，藉由影像、裝置等方式，推測在地者、當事者（閩、客居民）傳述的主觀經驗和現場性描述，進行肉塊、頭顱、屍骨等「非人之物」作為歷史行動者的史學編撰，以及地理空間中的鬼魅、食人史和定居殖民思維之間的潛在聯繫。

Vibrantly defined since the 16th century, the so-called cannibals refer to the difficult ones encountered by the coloniser, the 'inhuman beasts’ resisting and provoking foreign merchants and settlers. To the coloniser, it was no excuse that incidents of cannibalism occurred in the shallow mountains residing armed Han people. In the exhibition, the realm of cannibalism refers to the invasive cultivation of land and historical migration of the Han people from the subtly critical perspective of the indigenous on the other end of the border. But that's not all.As a part of the The Beheaded Stream Art Project, previous papers and works published by artist Liang Ting-Yu include The History of Anthropophagy (2018, Zone Art) and Memories of Savage Flesh Eating in Longtan and Kansai Shallow Mountain Regions of Northern Taiwan (2019, the 10th Hakka Cultural Inheritance and Development Academic Conference). Through reinterpreting Chinese, English, and Japanese historical texts and retracing sensory memories of sight, smell, and touch based on oral history, the artist observes the anthropophagus narrative between the Hakka, the Min, and the indigenous, and the flesh-eating rumours surrounding the shallow mountains of northern Taiwan. In the form of film and installation, Liang’s work investigates the live recounts and subjective views of the local Min and Hakka involved, as well as the non-human objects such as flesh chunks, skulls and skeletons. As a historical activist, the artist drafts a historiographical compilation exploring the interconnection between phantoms of local geographies, the cannibal history, and the colonial thinking of residing settlers.