Floating 2017

Idas Losin is a Taiwanese First Nations artist of Truku and Atayal heritage whose paintings explore Austronesian identity, relating to peoples sharing language groups across parts of South-East Asia and the Pacific, extending to Madagascar.

This work focuses on the iconic tatara (canoe) of the Tao people of Lanyu (Orchid Island), off the south-east coast of Taiwan. These symmetrical vessels, with their distinctively upturned bow and stern, are typically decorated with geometric emblems representing flying fish, the sea and ancestral beings. With eyes at both ends, the boats are seen as extensions of the human body, linking heaven and earth. Losin depicts this tatara at rest, its striped tarpaulin cover parted at one end to reveal a wooden keel and a hint of the boat's striking decorations.