Beyond Identity: Taiwan from Inside
Author: Leo Gaillard
Beyond Identity: Taiwan from Inside
The illustration visualized an eco-political project that advocates for environmental protection, conservation and encourages people to search for their identity by walking into nature.
Sketches
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Sketch A
The first sketch focuses on the shared destiny of Taiwan and the world, which are connected by the symbol of the trail in the Central Mountain Range. The perspective is a lower aerial view to see the island from the top and also see it from inside to the landscapes, which meet my client’s expectation.
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Sketch B
The second sketch focuses on one thing: the topic of "走過台灣". Different from the first one including as much as possible, this image keeps simple, shapes, and one strong idea. I use the majority of the space for the mountain to create a huge and high feeling. The globe replacing the sun represents Taiwan and the world. Their shared destinies reflect on the relation between light and shadow. The bottom left trail looks like a crack that shows people go out from the situation that refers to "A significant proportion of people remain distanced from the subject as they are overwhelmed by other concerns. This has created a chasm......". You can find the second person from the back is helping the last one to climb up.
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Sketch C
The last sketch focuses on politics and ecology. I was thinking about how I would introduce the project by keywords, and it came out with politics and ecology. To depict and connect these two abstract keywords, I have tried many different symbols and end up choosing the spiral stairs as the symbol of destiny as well as the trail to connect the future and what we're doing now.
Detailed Line Work
6 Missions
The image not only depicts the project concepts, but also comprehensively shows 6 primary missions: The Green New Deal, Nature Protection, Carbon Valley, Rite of Passage, Soft Power, and Geopolitical Cornerstone. This enables the client to propose the project to the government, and promote ideas of environmental and political changes to the public.
Geography
Taiwan is an island divided by the Central Mountain Range. Located to the west of the range are the large cities inhabited by the majority of the population. In contrast, located to the east of the range are the natural sites and homes of the indigenous population for thousands of years.
The West of Taiwan
The 3 hikers depicted on the left are a metaphor for people searching for their identity. By walking through the Japanese Shrine, they cross over Taiwan’s complex history of colonization by many different countries.
The East of Taiwan
On the right side is an imaginary city called “Carbon Valley,” which is the idea of a sustainable energy research centre. The Formosan Sika deer is the endemic species in Taiwan but became extinct in 1969. In the illustration, it symbolizes and raises the awareness of nature conservation.
