Idas Losin is a Taiwanese aboriginal artist of Truku and Atayal heritage. Her paintings range from expressions of Austronesian identity, incorporating tattoos, woven patterns and other cultural objects, to dreamlike renderings of island settings and seascapes. This selection of Losin’s works focuses on the tatara fishing canoes of the Tao people and their home of Lanyu (Orchid Island), off the south-east coast of Taiwan.

Losin’s ‘Orchid Island’ paintings reflect the significance of fishing for the Tao people, centring on the form of the tatara at rest, preparing to launch, and afloat in calm waters. These symmetrical vessels, with their distinctively upturned bow and stern, are typically decorated with carved and painted geometric emblems representing the sea, ancestral beings and the flying fish that play a major role in ceremonial cycles. With eyes at both ends, the boats are seen as extensions of the human body, linking heaven and earth. Also included with this series is a topographic rendering of Jimagaod (Lesser Orchid Island), an uninhabited volcanic islet to the island’s south.