WAYWARD DECISION

Wayward Decision reflects on Banping Mountain’s shift from mining site to engineered forest. Using photos, stickers, and sculpture, the project questions what “nature” means in a landscape shaped by both human intent and ecological chance.

Despite gazing out at Banping Mountain from my window ever since I was a child, I was always oblivious to its long history as a site for limestone mining. My awakening arrived when the Kaohsiung city government decided to dismantle the Southeast Cement Factory at the mountain’s base, altering the city’s industrial image. As I explored the area’s history and politics, I discovered the fascinating story of a public-private partnership that undertook massive reforestation and land restoration efforts 25 years after mining ceased.

To my surprise, I learned that the area’s seemingly natural forest was actually a meticulously engineered landscape. This discovery prompted me to ask questions about what the word “nature” truly means. During its reforestation project, the cement company used a fast-growing invasive species called white popinac in an attempt to expedite landscape recovery. In the chapter entitled “Understanding the Mountain,” I took photos of the white popinac forest and turned them into stickers, merging different timelines to reveal Banping Mountain’s current condition.

After creating these stickers, I then sculpted a cement model of Banping Mountain. Responding both to the area’s historical significance as well as the contemporary reforestation efforts, I covered the cement mountain with the stickers printed with images of white popinac in a way that evoked adding layers in Photoshop. The landscape underwent a rapid transformation, highlighting how it no longer resembled its original form.

In the second part of the book, “Natural Cycle,” I turned my lens toward the dynamic interplay between nature and human activity. Following the cement factory’s artificial greening efforts in 1998, the white popinac proliferation intensified, prompting government intervention. Despite efforts to eradicate it through native replantation, the cycle of periodic invasion, clearance, and resurgence continued unabated.

Now, I lack clear answers to my questions about the meaning of the word “nature.” Nature isn’t something untouched by human interventions, nor is it something confined to our imaginations. I named the project “Wayward Decision” to intimate how neither humanity nor nature has full control over the landscape. This project reveals Banping Mountain’s dynamic past and present, as well as its potential futures, engaging in a comprehensive exploration of the intricate relationship between human influence and the natural world playing out in these environments.