The Old Banyan of the Sea, the Siraya Tree

In the museum garden stands a banyan tree more than eighty years old, and it has borne witness to the transformation of the site since the construction of the Tainan Police Station during the Japanese colonial period. Inspired by the relationship between the old banyan tree and the museum space, Sugihara Nobuyuki and Nakamura Ayaka incorporate ropes made using oyster shells, a material associated with oyster farming in Tainan, to evoke the forms of boats and trees reaching toward the light. The work extends the artists’ research into Siraya culture during their residency in Tainan, and recalls the maritime memories of the indigenous Siraya Night Ceremony and the Taikang Inland Sea that once existed in southern Taiwan. Incorporating Siraya songs and improvised performances, the work interweaves the old banyan tree, indigenous cultural heritage, and maritime imagery, while reveal the historical continuity and vitality of the land across time and space.