Sakuliu Pavavaljung is renowned as a socially engaged artist whose work actively seeks to preserve the traditional cultural practices of his Paiwan tribe. His diverse practice spans painting, ceramics, sculpture, installation art, and architecture. In 2018, he became the first Taiwanese indigenous artist to be awarded the National Arts and Culture Award in the fine arts category.
Read MoreSakuliu was born in the village of Tavadran in Pingtung County, Taiwan to a family of artisans of the Paiwan people, who are indigenous to southern Taiwan. His was a family of pulima—those who are highly skilled in arts and crafts. His family had made iron knives for several generations, and his younger brother is a painter and woodcutter.
As a young man, Sakuliu would travel from village to village to fix broken water and electricity systems, where he witnessed the powerlessness experienced by his people as their traditional culture was becoming threatened by imported influences. This experience prompted Sakuliu to focus his attention on revitalising traditional Paiwan practices.
Sakuliu Pavavaljung's work takes places at the intersection between traditional Paiwan culture and contemporary life. Concerned at the erosion of traditional indigenous practices and knowledge, Sakuliu has developed a career rooted in the restoration and maintenance of Paiwan tribal wisdom and in the empowerment of young tribal members.
Reflecting his artisanal upbringing, Sakuliu's wide-ranging practice has included documentation in the form of drawings and manuscripts, building stone slab houses, making sculptures, and founding several ethnic awareness movements. Sakuliu's artworks, which take the form of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and installations, are often populated by motifs borrowed from indigenous cultures. These include such animals as the deer and boar, which bear historical significance to male members of Sakuliu's tribe.
Since the early 1980s, Sakuliu has conducted research with tribal elders in order to document Paiwan cultural practices. In his early 20s, Sakuliu undertook field research with elders to document the patterns and shapes of ceramic pots, traditional dress, and other Paiwan household items though painting. Through his research, Sakuliu is credited with the revival of ceramics within Paiwan culture, which were previously used as betrothal gifts before the decline of the practice.
Much of Sakuliu's practice has focused on the importance of education in the preservation of Paiwan culture. At the age of 24, Sakuliu established a studio based on the teaching of Paiwan arts, and by the age of 30, he had founded the Tavadran Tribal Classroom, dedicated to reviving cultural practices by passing traditional knowledge onto young tribal members.
In 2017, Sakuliu was invited by local government to spend several months in eastern Taiwan teaching young members of the Bunun tribe how to build traditional slate houses. He has also held workshops around the country teaching young Indigenous people drawing, sculpture, and traditional pottery skills.
In 2021, Sakuliu was selected to represent Taiwan at the 59th Venice Biennale as the first Indigenous artist to occupy the Taiwanese pavilion. However, following the emergence of sexual assault allegations against the artist in December 2021, the Taiwan Pavilion National Committee decided to suspend Sakuliu from the Biennale.
Sakuliu Pavavaljung has featured in both solo and group exhibitions. Solo exhibitions include A Memory of Light, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (2015) and Boundary Narratives, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (2016).
His work is held in the collections of Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts; National Museum of Prehistory, Taitung City; and Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines, Taipei.
Alena Kavka | Ocula | 2022
