CHENG Sang-Syi

A young man sits by the sea, looking toward the horizon. The 1960s in Taiwan brought swift change; the image lingers at that line where whispers meet the horizon — hope and uncertainty held together.
    This sense of waiting resonates with Chen Yingzhen’s short novel My Kid Brother Kangxiong — one of the Biennial’s three conceptual departure points. In the story, a sister reads her younger brother’s diaries after his suicide, piecing together a life caught between youthful ideals and forces larger than him. Some of that generation moved with the times; others felt left behind. The photograph holds that yearning — for direction, belonging, and a future one can claim.
    From his Light and Shadow series, CHENG Sang-Syi’s realist eye pairs crisp contrast with restraint. He began photographing at 18 and, while studying journalism at National Chengchi University, founded the school’s first Photography Club.