Title: May 27th - 16:24
Medium: Super-8 film
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Resolution: 2880 x 2160
File Type: H.264 Codec / MP4.
Comments: We were in Taipei to visit Yufi's art show and learn more about the country. My friend Amber, who I always ran into in LA randomly, happened to be in town so we met up with her in Daan park before visiting the Wistaria tea house nearby. We sat for an hour drinking unique blends of black, white, and green teas. Amber asked us why we were in Taiwan so we told her about the project. She suggested we meet with her aunt, Fenmei, who lives with the Tsou. An indigenous community in the southern mountains. We planned the roadtrip with Amber and her mother's driver. It was 7 am and we started the 5 hour drive down to the Alishan national forest to meet with Aunt Fenmei. We talked and slept the whole way down and arrived at a beautiful misty mountainside. Fenmei greeted us and showed us around her home and market. She gifted me a long red fabric, which she prayed on, then used it as my new camera strap. I gifted her a piece of fabric too. It was my vintage camera strap with psychedelic textures. She winked at me and said lets go! We followed her in her car to the Tsou village. We got out of the cars and walked through the village and down the steps to the large community steps. She walked me to her favorite tree and whispered to it, then whispered to me to make the portrait with this special tree. I walked to the center of the outdoor space and started recording. She held the tree then looked at me. Walking toward the camera. She was wearing the traditional clothes of her tribe. She smiled and the roll faded. I put the cameras away. We walked further down towards the forest. We were all barefoot. We played in the garden for a while. She knew we loved tea so she took us to a tea field to have some tea with the laughing tea maker. We sat, drank, and gurgled the tea. Apparently, thats how you taste the tea according to the master. We had a final meal with 1,000 year old eggs with Fenmei in the evening. Then parted ways with our new aunt and started the 5 hour drive back home.