A photographer, when compared to an ordinary man, has an extra pair of eyes and an enlarged heart.One set of eyes sees a landscape and a people that is ordinarily ignored by most, while the other set searches for a particular place, a specific angle, and looks for a vantage point from which to seize the image. It is in the photographer’s distinguished heart that these sensibilities originate.

Shen Chao-Liang in 2001 began collecting the images that form the YULAN Magnolia Flowers series. In 2007, Shen had enough images of the subject for a new photographic album. Through his eyes and mindset the viewer is introduced to the landscape of the Magnolia Flowers and finds a landscape in the people and a people in the landscape. Through the images of Shen Chao-Liang the viewer is witness to moments that generally unnoticed.

In our shared memory, for those who drive in Taiwan, we recall seeing street vendors, with only their eyes revealed--because they wear a traditional wide brimmed straw hat that is shrouded with cloth to cover the mouth and long sleeves for sun protection-- carrying a basket of magnolia flowers under one arm. These vendors exchange a string of three gracefully shaped light yellow magnolia blossoms for ten New Taiwan Dollars. These flowers in return emit a subtle fragrance and momentarily awaken of the senses as if to echo the “thank you” of the flower vendor. It is a simple form of happiness that is within our reach and it waits just outside the car window- a form of happiness that is just around the corner.

The fragrance, of the magnolia flower, is different from those that are seductive and arousing in that it is more of a refreshing fragrance that brings pure and tranquil feelings. It is a convenient and affordable form of bliss since the magnolia is commonly grown and popular it can be sold at such a low price. Yet, when such bliss comes too easily and too reasonably- it is often overlooked and dismissed. It is like viewing the same landscape day after day where after a while the landscape is taken for granted, the experience becomes stale and unentertaining and as time goes by, one even becomes blinded to the view. If one stops taking notice of the beautiful things in life and one ceases to be curious, then soon there will be no story to tell.

The magnolia flower is oftentimes hung from the rear view mirror, but after a full day of exposure to the sun, in a car that is usually inadequately ventilated, the once entrancing fragrance fades away, the petals dry, the skin darkens, the branches harden and the leaves curl. Its final fate is to be thrown into the trash, along with the refreshing fragrance and beauty that once stirred the heart.

Who knows how long it has been that the heavily trafficked streets have attracted so many part-time workers that hand out various flyers? Once the light turns red and cars stop these workers swarm into traffic and everything becomes chaotic. As a consequence, new traffic laws have been enacted and restrictions have been applied with penalties that are severe. These factors, the new laws, the traffic restrictions and the increased congestion, have compressed and compromised the workplace of the vendors who sell the magnolia flower. Today it is more difficult for the flower’s fragrance to tempt drivers into rolling down their windows in order to buy a strand of magnolia flowers and the once commonly seen vendors have decreased in number.  Traffic regulations may one day be enforced with such effectiveness that there will no longer be vendors to be seen on the street. Slowly and quietly, the landscape of the magnolia and its fragrance is being erased from our memory. However, when the strand of magnolia flower first comes to hand and its fragrance reaches the nose, the love and joy experienced becomes an eternal memory shared by many. 

Today the public is less likely to encounter such experiences in their everyday lives but Shen Chao-Liang has traced the fragrance and has found both inspiration and motivation for art-making and photographic documentation in the magnolia flower. When Shen’s eyes engage those of a magnolia flower vendor, through the car window, the exchange is beyond that of an obvious surface level or superficial transaction. If one where to plot an x/y graph where the “x” axis represents an emotional exchange and the “y” axis represents an economic exchange the viewer would recognize that Shen’s photographic work weaves between both the emotional and economic. 

Along the “y” axis Shen documents the lives of those people whose work is related to the magnolia flower industry: the farmers, harvesters, distributors and street vendors. As viewers we witness how the magnolia flower industry has transformative properties as it allows these people to dream and promotes hope. The magnolia flower offers some opportunity for a certain level of financial security and the possibilities of a better standard of living. In a single transaction or exchange, one observes the intense physical labor; admires the halting steps; sees the hands covered with cocoons; and acknowledges the basket of coins that are so characteristic of the sentiments and strengths of a magnolia flower vendor. 

An exchange along the “x”axis is emotional and through his camera Shen Chao-liang documents the terrestrial world of the magnolia flowers

To view the YULAN Magnolia Flowers series is to see a story about people who are racing against time. The old Chinese adage suggesting: “To work from dawn till dusk” may seem a bit hackneyed and outdated by modern standards but the magnolia flower buds gather energy from the sun throughout the day and at nightfall the fragrance spreads everywhere. At dawn, the flower farmer enters the nursery equipped with a basket at the waist, a towel around the neck and wearing long plastic boots. The distinguishing feature, of these farmers from those who farm other crops, is the headlights they wear, a clear sign that a flower farmer is at work. However, unlike miners who work underground and the only source of light for their work is their headlights, the magnolia farmer purposefully avoids direct sunlight and gathers the buds by the light of these dim headlights. The farmer collects and transports the magnolia flowers to the market well before dawn as once the magnolia flower has been collected from its branch the fragrance is released. The flowers will need to be sold as quickly as possible to assure the most arresting aroma at the time of the sale by the street vendor.

Although the magnolia flower is the subject of Shen Chao-Liang’s photographic essay, the flower itself is not complex enough to comprise all of the images in this project. The photographer has elected to depict the people and to record the lives of those related to the flower, in order to render a more comprehensive understanding of the subject.

In viewing the images contained in the series YULAN Magnolia Flowers, one is introduced to the production side of the magnolia flower industry where the flower farmer invests a great deal of sweat and toil in order to achieve abundant results, while the wholesaler races against the clock in order to supply the most fragrant flowers to the market and to the street vendors who have invested both their time and their youth in exchange for a basket of coins. 

In these images, one views the wide variety of people trying to make ends meet, but many are bemused. Those most agitated seem to be the street vendors because they are regularly exposed to the harsh sun and subjected heavy rains. For the low-income earning vendors of this profession the environment becomes a test of physical strength.  Behind the rough skin of every tanned face, is a compelling story that is told by Shen Chao-Liang as he opens his car door and walks towards these magnolia flower vendors. Shen warmly greets these vendors, demonstrates his care for their well being, and he listens to what they have to tell him. In return, these vendors open to Shen Chao-Liang allowing his camera to record images of their lives. In recording their lives, Chao-Liang introduces the viewer to the plight of the magnolia flower vendors and puts a face to those seemingly anonymous, unnoticed vendors working amidst the heavy traffic.

In That White Magnolia Tree in my Hometown Garden, writer Dong Qiao writes about the literati painter Ni Tsan, who was active towards the end of Yuan dynasty and into early Ming dynasty. Ni Tsan spent his life painting landscape images without including the human figure and sited his reason for doing as: “The existence of humans and of humanity has no significance in an era such as today.” Ni Tsan was born into a period of history that was clouded with political chaos and troubled times. It was a period in which human life and existence became meaningless-- so the painter painted landscapes without the human figure as both a political statement and as a form of artistic expression. In contrast, the magnolia flower, usually a topic of landscape, becomes the proposition of Shen Chao-Liang’s photographic album through which he reveals the activities and character of the people related to the industry. It is really the people who become focal point of this body of work in deference to the landscape itself. 

Generally considered the bottom strata of society are those growing and harvesting the magnolia; those transporting and distributing the magnolia; and those selling the magnolia flower. It seems that society has turned a blind eye to the lives and activities of these workers, ignoring the plight of these people. Yet Shen Chao-Liang sees them and he has tried to document their lives. He tells of their plight through a photographic album that is charged with a human touch that reveals the unyielding and high-hearted qualities of the magnolia flower.

In turning his lens towards those who buy, to those who wear and to those who offer the magnolia flower to various deities- Shen exposes the different practices and applications of those buying the magnolia flower for what may seem as usual and common activities. The viewer understands that some buy the magnolia flower simply for the pure enjoyment of its fragnace. While others present the magnolia flower to gods and goddesses as a solemn act of devotion and out of traditional respectful manners on various religious occasions. These glimpses into the practices and applications of the magnolia flower reflect the most private and most personal of mindsets; as it is the human temperament projected upon the magnolia flower that creates the vast array of possibilities and potential.
Through the images of the YULAN Magnolia Flowers series one gains an understanding of the mindset and various points of view held by everyone from the planters and to those of the consumer. In viewing the images of YULAN Magnolia Flowers, one gains an appreciation for the differences of opinion that the same magnolia flower can be perceived so very differently by a wide variety of people. Furthermore, in viewing these images we gain an understanding that our worldview would be incomplete if any one of the various roles were missing.  It takes a photographer or an artist to see the world centered on the magnolia flowers and to bring the subject matter to life. Only an artist or photographer can compress the complexities of the visual world into an album that reveals with such clarity the world of the magnolia flowers such as this one.

Lan Tsu-Wei is a senior film critic

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