八家將 秋大神

Pak Ka Chióng  Autumn Guardian

 

In response to the theme of ’20 Santi’, Dr TC Huang picked the God Guardians, ‘Pat ka chiòng (八家將)’ from Taiwanese folklore, who maintain the order and catch the bad spirits during religious parade. From the Chinese title, it is apparent a group of 8 guardians, and this time, Dr TC Huang presents the Autumn Guardian which the character is based on the image of birds.

 

He combines his research interest, pleating and textile manipulation, to redesign the traditional costume to demonstrate a more modern and fun look, so audience may find it less scary to approach and appreciate the traditional culture. The mask is formed with the image of Taiwan national bird, Formosa Blue Magpie, which is endemic to this country. It is famous for its blue feather, red beak and gold eyes. The costume adopts the elastic yarn with digital knitting technique to form a 3-dimensional pleating structure which is not affected by humidity and heat as traditional pleats.

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Hand Tufting Mask, Computer-knitting pleats, Trouser

Polyester, elastane yarns

150cm X 200cm
Digitalknitting by Chemtax (Stoll) Co. Ltd. http://www.chemtax.com

Material supported by Pro. Tao, Xiao-Ming

This work is a donation to APPA Museum (https://www.instagram.com/appamuseum/)