Blooming Flowers, Flourishing Fortunes

Blooming Flowers, Flourishing Fortunes
花開富貴
2016-

Flowers,Soil,TV
花卉，泥土，電視
Dimensions variable
裝置依場域而定

This project came to shape during the Arts-in-Residence in Neng Sheng Xing factory (Tainan), where I attempted to cultivate flowers that show the pattern of a Taiwanese traditional calico fabric and hoped to probe into local history of its industry development and self-identity seeking.

The printed cloth featured in this project was obtained from my grandmother’s hand-made clothes for me in my childhood at Tainan. She was used to be a tailor and owned a shop combining a tailor working space with a cloth house. Her shop was in between a lace factory and a food processing factory; it’s quite interesting for me to found the fact that these two factories happened to be deeply involved into the developing history of Neng Sheng Xing factory when it was still called “Yuan Fa textile factory” before transforming into an international art space nowadays.

These facts motivated me to take the textile industry history around the Neng Sheng Xing’s neighborhood as the project’s axis, and therefore, I decided to find some flower-patterned calico fabric among the street here. I found that a kind of low-priced flower-patterned cotton calico fabric was used to be mass-produced in this neighborhood. Even before advanced Japanese textile equipment was imported into Taiwan, the local textile factory owners had attempted to refer to existing foreign calico fabric to make their own design, and these Taiwan-made calico fabric have been widely used in daily commodities, such as: bamboo hat, for instance. After all these long years of textile technology development, Taiwan still conserves the flower-patterned calico fabric as one of the textile industry’s traditional item.

The pattern of the calico fabric my grandmother had used for making my clothes was probably not the factory owners’ hand-designed one mentioned above; however, it might be another variant manufactured by other local factories. After the field research on the streets, I have asked for the assistance of the Floriculture Research Office of the Agricultural Research and Extension Station; the staff analyzed the flower pattern on the calico fabric and inferred a possible breed of the flower. And finally, with another flower breeding amateur’s assistance, the cultivation of the flower out of the calico fabric was achieved eventually.

(This is a rough translation of the original in Chinese)

New variety flower, 2018

這個計畫發展自台南的能盛興國際藝術村的駐村期間，我試圖培育出一張碎花布裡的花卉，並且透過這個培育計畫討論當地產業發展與尋找自我認同的歷史。

    這張花布來自於我還是個孩子時在台南生活所穿的手工衣服，我的祖母為我製造了這件衣服，祖母是一名裁縫，擁有一間裁縫工作室與布莊合併的店鋪，店鋪位置恰好在蕾絲工廠與食品工廠之間。有趣的是，這兩間工廠的過去恰恰與能盛興這棟建築還沒變成國際藝術村之前，還被稱為「源發紡織廠」的產業歷史息息相關。

    於是我以能盛興國際藝術村所在街區的紡織產業歷史為主軸，尋找一些花卉圖案的布料，後來我發現這個街區在過去曾經大量生產過一種廉價的碎花棉布，在日本的紡織機械尚未進入台灣之前，這些由紡織廠老闆自行設計，模仿國外花布圖案的棉布被廣泛地應用在生活用品之中，如，斗笠。這些使用廉價碎花布的生活用品經過漫長的時間，在已經擁有優良布料印製技術的今日依然保持了使用碎花布的傳統。

    祖母為我製作的衣服所使用的碎花布可能不是過去紡織廠老闆親手繪製的廉價花棉布，但極有可能是某間紡織廠模仿花卉圖案的變體，在這個計畫之中，我請農業改良場的花卉實驗室協助，分析了這張花布上可能的花卉品種，並且請一名花卉育種的玩家協助培育出花布上的花卉。

Process of Variety Improvement

Tainan District Agricultural Research and Extension StationLab of floriculture
PI Zhang Yuan Cong
台南區農業改良場花卉科實驗室主持人
張元聰

Perhaps the pattern on this dress originates from earlier times,
那這件衣服上面的這種圖案可能是早期的
designed specifically for this type of fabric.
這種花布的圖案而已
The type of flower pattern on this fabric might have been
那這種花布的圖案這種花譜的話
perhaps
可能是
from his own contemplations of flowers,
他......可能是自己想像畫出來的
painted according to
可能根據他自己的一些
the kinds of flowers in his imagination.
想像的花卉的樣子把他畫出來的
Or he might have imitated the images of some imported flowers,
那也有可能就是模仿一些國外的進口的花圖
especially flowers from Europe or America.
尤其是歐美地區的花卉的圖
Then he might have imitated their images.
然後去給他把他畫出來的
Flowers from foreign countries
那因為是參考國外進來的花卉的話
are rarely seen in Taiwan.
所以這種花卉在台灣一般來講都是比較看不到的
As we can see,
那我們是可以看到這上面有三種花
there are three types of flowers on the fabric.
算出來可以有看到三種花
There is this one with a dash of blue.
那我們會看到這個有點藍色的這個
In appearance, it is closer to the blue poppy.
從形態來看的話它是比較接近那種藍罌粟(Meconopsis wallichii)
Though the blue poppy is still a type of poppy.
那藍罌粟的話是一種罌粟花的一種
The unique thing about this one is that its petals are blue and there are only 4 to 5 of them.
他特別是花瓣是藍色的而且只有四到五個花瓣
It’s a type of ‘dicot’. The pattern seems similar.
是單瓣的所以這個型態是看起來也是滿像的
So these flowers with a bit of blue should be blue poppies, right
所以這種有關藍色的這種花應該就是藍罌粟沒錯
Then how about the yellow ones
那另外一個有一個是黃色
Or those with green at the center, the quite big flowers.
然後綠心然後花感覺比較大
The ones with more petals.
然後花瓣比較多的
This could be a buttercup.
這個就有可能是那種陸蓮花(Buttercup)
This buttercup is also from northern countries.
這種陸蓮花的話他也是北國的植物
It’s hard to take care of this kind of plant in Taiwan.
在台灣的話......比較難種
Only in winter, when the temperature is lower.
只有冬天大概溫度比較低的時候
Bulbs imported from foreign countries.
進口從國外進來的球根( bulb)
If they do grow, they can flower in a very short time.
然後種出來的話它短時間裡是可以開花的
Then this stamen that we see now is from the blueish flower.
然後我們看到那個花是有點藍色的這是它的花蕊
The third type of flower is this. It has five red petals.
第三種花是有點這個紅色的五瓣
Its color varies, sometimes they have a little white.
然後有不同程度的花色跟它還有一丁點白白的
It looks like a Rose of Sharon.
這個看起來應該是木槿花(Rose of Sharon)啦
Rose of Sharon is a type of dicot. It looks like it’s got five petals.
木槿花單瓣的品種的話它看起來就是這樣子五瓣的
The color of its petals is different from the center of the flower.
然後它花瓣跟花心的地方它顏色是不一樣的
The color of the petals is lighter.
就花瓣比較淺
The color gets darker when closer to the center.
然後花瓣基部就是接近整棵花的部分顏色會是比較深的
So it fits well with the pattern.
所以符合它這個意象
In the middle, there’s a bit of white.
而最中間那個有一點白白的
This Rose of Sharon is a Malvacceae
是這種木槿花它是槿葵科(Malvaceae)的
The petals
它的花瓣
Its stamen has a unique name.
它的花蕊是一種比較特別的名字
Its name is “Monadelphous”.
它的名字叫做”單體雄蕊”(Monadelphous)
All the stamens gather together at the front.
它是所有雄蕊集合成在最前面這邊
That’s why it looks white.
所以它看起來就是有一點點白白的這樣子
So……it should be the Rose of Sharon.
所以它應該就是木槿花沒錯
You can find them in Taiwan. They flower in all four seasons.
那木槿花在台灣有種它一年四季都會開花
It’s quite common in Taiwan.
所以在台灣算是還比較常見的

-- excerpts from video Blooming Flowers, Flourishing Fortunes