YAU Meng-Jia

In this photograph, YAU Meng-Jia presents an animated portrait of Huang Hai-Dai (1901–2007), master puppeteer and founder of Wu Zhou Yuan (a puppet theater troupe). His puppetry kept evolving; from the 1970s, television and later animation carried the troupe’s work to mass audiences through his sons and many apprentices.
    Resonating with one of the Biennial’s three conceptual departure points — Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s film The Puppetmaster, tracing the life of Li Tien-Lu — the image invites a dialogue between traditions. Though different, both embody a steadfast commitment to a form that endures: hand-held theater carrying voice and memory through colonial rule, war, and rapid modernization.
    Born in Taipei in 1946, YAU documents people and everyday life; as Echo Magazine’s general manager (1978), he helped record and renew Taiwan’s folk arts.