“Silaturahmi” derives from an Arabic word meaning the “connecting and mending ties of relationships.” The Islamic concept has been adapted to everyday life for Muslim and non-Muslim communities throughout Indonesia.
That makes it the perfect title for a major installation at this year’s TAIWANfest, on view September 3 and 4 from 11 am to 7 pm and September 5 from 11 am to 6 pm at the 600-block of Granville Street.
The exhibit centres on the Indonesian migrant fishers of Tangkáng, a small, 400-year-old harbour town in southern Taiwan—a vibrant fishing port with thousands of inshore and offshore vessels, plying bluefin tuna, sakura shrimp, and mullet roe.
Since the 1990s, Indonesian seafarers have become the primary labour force in the fishing industry at Tangkáng. In Tangkáng, you can find Austronesian faces, conversations and signboards in Indonesian languages, and Indonesian meals in food stalls run by migrants—a sensory experience captured in this new installation by artists Ting-Kuan Wu and Yu-Chen Lan, in collaboration with filmmaker Yu-jui Lu and FOSPI (Forum Silaturahmi Pelaut Indonesia), the Indonesian Seafarers “Gathering” Forum. FOSPI unites over 2,500 fishers from different regions of Indonesia and has become a second home for these seafarers struggling for their lives and dreams in Taiwan.
The exhibit transports you to Tangkáng today, where mosques built by Indonesian fishers coexist peacefully with local temples and churches, and Indonesian music accompanies the lively Tangkáng temple parade. When off work, the fishers sing and compose songs about their journeys in a foreign land with guitars; they paint graffiti mottos on their fishing boats with leftover paint from boat repairs to encourage themselves and the others.
Explore, also, the daily feast, when fishers sit in a circle on the floor, enjoying home-cooked Indonesian dishes. There are local Taiwanese dishes too, such as ginger fish soup and freshly-cut sashimi with soy sauce and mustard—dishes that become a nostalgic taste of life in Taiwan when they return home.
This is the story of how Indonesian migrant fishers built a community and found solidarity in a Taiwanese fishing town amid the rapid changes of globalization, as well as how seafarers from foreign lands created a lively multicultural place while continuing to forge new connections.
Post sponsored by TAIWANfest.
