In the Truku language, tamas means "marking."
Actions such as striking stones, smearing mud, and walking leave repeated, cyclical, and layered traces of bodily movement across her body, the performance site, and the urban space. Can these successive markings reveal a path back to one’s own origins?
By following the tamas left throughout the gallery, we witness how the artist makes herself present— entering into dialogue with herself and society, while continually reshaping her own sense of identity.
About the Artist Photo provided by the Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation (Photo by 58kg Studio) Lihan Umaw was born in Hualien in 1990 and currently lives and works in Kaohsiung. Her practice has long explored her intersecting experiences of Indigenous and gender identity through bodily action and performance. Through her artistic performance practices, she responds to and explores the conditions of human existence. In a contemporary society permeated by the categorization, labeling, and polarization of identities, Lihan Umaw’s artistic practice presents the body as a possible path through which one may continually search, respond, renew, and repair the self.
Her works have been performed at the Hualien Cultural and Creative Industries Park, the Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, and Hong-gah Museum, among other venues. In 2023 and 2025, she received a Merit Award in the Performance Art category of the Pulima Art Award.
Artist┃Lihan UMAW
Coordinator & Text┃YANG Yung-ju
Exhibition Production┃CHANG Tien
Videography & Editing┃SUE Yu-syuan
Administrative Associate┃LI I-hsuan
Visual Design┃Y Graphics
English / Mandarin Translation┃CHANG Tien
Supervisor┃Bureau of Cultural Affairs, Kaohsiung City Government
Organizer┃Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts
Oct. 31 (Sat) 14:00
KSpace, B1, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts