Photography

1963

Length:39 x Width:59 (cm)

1組6件,畫心尺寸39x59cm,全尺寸56.1x77.5x4cm。

Yu Ju-Chi (1932-2016, Zhangzhou, Fujian, China) moved to Taiwan with his family in 1946. They lived with his elder sister, who was then the principal of Taichung Girls’ Senior High School. He attended and graduated from Taichung First Senior High School. In 1953, he began working for the Taichung City Government, while also freelancing as a photojournalist for newspapers and television stations. In 1969, Yu was officially hired as a photojournalist by Taiwan Television (TTV), where he worked until his retirement in 1995. Even after retiring, he continued to document Taiwan through photography. In 1968, Yu was named one of Taiwan’s “Ten Outstanding Young Persons.” His work earned numerous accolades, including the Golden Horse Awards, Golden Bell Awards, the Asian Film Festival, and the highest honor at the International Children’s Film Festival in Spain.
A pioneer of ecological photography in Taiwan, Yu began photographing the communal life of egrets in 1959, capturing their natural behavior in documentary style. In 1967, his documentary Egret Dwellings won an award at the 14th Asian Film Festival. Footage from the project was later adapted into a narrative film of the same name, which won a Golden Horse Award in 1968. The Egret Dwellings photographic series consists of six black-and-white images depicting egrets at rest, in flight, and tending to their young. The egret symbolizes longevity, happiness, and well-being, and Yu’s lens captured not only the vibrancy of life in these moments but also the distinctive elegance and charm inherent to black-and-white photography.

Accession number:20160100007