Aluaiy Kaumakan: Weaving after the Storm

SummaryEpisode 6 follows the practice of Aluaiy Kaumakan, also known in Chinese as Wu Yuling (武玉玲), a Paiwan (排灣) textile and installation artist from southern Taiwan, and asks how weaving can become a method of cultural survival after climate disaster and forced relocation. Moving between community-based making and large-scale installation, this episode stays close to the material intelligence of lemikalik （纏繞）, a concentric-circle weaving technique that turns care, tension, and repair into form.Set in the wake of Typhoon Morakot （台风莫拉克） in 2009 and the resettlement of mountain communities, the story traces how Aluaiy’s practice shifts from individual mastery toward collective process: weaving circles as social infrastructure, and touch-based acts of return through rubbings and traces gathered from ancestral lands. Two major installations anchor the episode, Cevulj – Path of a Family and Semasipu – Remembering Our Intimacies, each offering a different vocabulary for shelter, continuity, and mourning without closure.KeywordsPaiwan （排灣）; Paridrayan （大社部落）; Sandimen（三地門）; Typhoon Morakot （台风莫拉克）; relocation and resettlement; lemikalik （纏繞）; semasipu; rubbings and traces; cultural infrastructure; indigenous art; shelter; kinship ecologyKey References Biennale of Sydney. “Aluaiy Kaumakan.” Biennale of Sydney. https://www.biennaleofsydney.art/participants/aluaiy-kaumakan/. Deng, Tzong-Sheng [鄧宗聖]. “After Typhoon Morakot: Creative Narratives of Paiwan Artists Etan Pavavalung and Aluaiy Kaumakan on Social Media” [莫拉克風災後：排灣族藝術家伊誕‧巴瓦瓦隆與武玉玲在社群媒體的創作論述]. 藝術評論 [Art Review], no. 47, (2024): 93-138.Google Arts & Culture. “Semasipu – Remembering Our Intimacies.” Google Arts & Culture. https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/semasipu-%E2%80%93-remembering-our-intimacies/_QGofmnhZ8To0A. 2022.Helsinki Biennial. “Aluaiy Kaumakan.” Helsinki Biennial. https://helsinkibiennaali.fi/en/artist/aluaiy-kaumakan/. Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation (原住民族文化事業基金會). “The Meanings Behind a Paiwan Girl’s Garments and Accessories.” Indigenous Sight (原視界). https://insight.ipcf.org.tw/en-US/article/666. 2022.Liang Gallery (尊彩藝術中心). “武玉玲 (Aluaiy Kaumakan).” 尊彩藝術中心官網. https://www.lianggallery.com/portfolio-view/%E6%AD%A6%E7%8E%89%E7%8E%B2/. Taiwan e-Learning and Digital Archives Program (TELDAP, 數位典藏與數位學習國家型科技計畫). “Paiwan Divination Pot.” Digital Taiwan: Culture & Nature. https://culture.teldap.tw/culture/index.php?id=672&option=com_content. Taiwan Indigenous Peoples Cultural Park (TACP, 原住民族委員會原住民族文化發展中心). “Wu, Yu-Ling (Aluaiy Kaumakan).” The 1st Taiwan International Austronesian Art Triennial (第一屆臺灣國際奧地利亞藝術三年展). https://en-tiaat.tacp.gov.tw/%E6%AD%A6%E7%8E%89%E7%8E%B2aruwai-kaumaka/. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). “Typhoon Morakot Situation Report No. 3.” OCHA. https://www.unocha.org/publications/report/china/typhoon-morakot-situation-report-no-3. 2009.My academic website: http://csun.academia.edu/MeiqinWang