Documenting What Remains: Indigenous Traditions Through the Lens
- WODACC
- 13 hours ago
- 3 min read
At the World Grand Prix Photography Award Spring 2026, Chia Chun Chen received the Silver Award in Documentary Narratives for Shared Catch, Shared Life, a photograph that quietly documents the revival of Indigenous fishing and hunting traditions in Wulai District.
Set within the Tranan Indigenous community, the work captures more than an activity—it records the reawakening of cultural memory through bodily practice, landscape, and collective rhythm. Through restraint and observation, the image reflects a relationship with nature grounded not in control, but in coexistence and continuity.
This photograph was taken in the Tranan Indigenous community of Wulai District, New Taipei City, documenting the revival of a traditional cultural practice that had disappeared locally for many years—a fishing and hunting competition. In the fast-flowing mountain stream, participants lower their bodies toward the water, engaging in a silent dialogue with stone, current, and memory. Their movements embody the Atayal people’s fishing techniques, passed down not through written records, but through generations of lived practice. This is not merely a competition, but a living cultural tradition. Fishing and hunting are shared across genders and form an essential part of coming-of-age education, strengthening community bonds and cultivating respect for the land. Guided by ancestral ecological ethics, participants take only mature fish while releasing the young, sustaining the river’s life cycle. Through this image, I seek to witness a relationship between people and nature that continues to be transmitted, respected, and sustained.
Interview
Q. What inspired you to take this award-winning photo? Is there a story behind the piece you’d like to share?
Chen:
In the Tranan Indigenous community of Wulai District, New Taipei City, this fishing and hunting practice had disappeared for many years and has only recently begun to be revived.
Standing by the stream, watching people lower their bodies and move close to the flowing water, the scene felt quiet, yet deeply powerful.
What I witnessed was not just movement, but a memory being awakened.
These techniques and rhythms have always existed—they are simply being carried forward through the body once again.
I happened to be there, using photography to hold onto that moment.
Q. Were there any challenges during the process of creating this series or image? How did you navigate them?
Chen:
For me, this space was not just a place to photograph, but a living environment where culture was being practiced.
I didn’t want the presence of the camera to disrupt the natural rhythm of what was happening.
So instead of directing or staging the scene, I chose to observe patiently and wait for moments to unfold on their own.
Environmentally, the lighting in a mountain stream changes quickly, and the reflections on the water can be difficult to control.
In the end, I chose to work with the available light rather than try to control it, allowing the image to stay closer to what I felt in that moment.
Q. How do you approach the balance between technical skill and emotional/artistic expression in your photography?
Chen:
Sometimes, an image that is too perfect can feel emotionally distant.
So I choose to leave certain imperfections, allowing the image to have space to breathe.
For me, technique is there to support the feeling, not to dominate the image.
I hope viewers see not just the image itself, but can also feel the warmth of that moment.
Q. What message or feeling do you hope your photography conveys to viewers?
Chen:
I hope people can sense that there is another way for humans to relate to nature.
Not through possession, but through coexistence;
not through taking, but through understanding.
In this image, people know when to take and when to leave.
This sense of restraint comes from a long relationship with the land, and the wisdom that grows from it.
Q5. In your view, what role does photography play in today’s world?
Chen:
I see photography as more than just documentation—it is a way of bringing attention to what is often overlooked.
In a rapidly changing world, many cultures and ways of life are gradually disappearing, sometimes before they are even fully understood.
Photography can act as a bridge, allowing people from different backgrounds to connect with and understand these stories.
For me, photography is not about defining something, but about opening up new ways of seeing.
Editor’s Note
In Shared Catch, Shared Life, Chia Chun Chen approaches documentary photography with patience, humility, and emotional sensitivity.
Rather than dramatizing the scene, the photograph quietly preserves a cultural rhythm rooted in memory, land, and intergenerational knowledge. Through observation rather than intervention, the work becomes both a document of revival and a reflection on how humans might reconnect with nature through respect and coexistence.
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