Nostalgic Mountains – Indigenous Old Women

Part of Huang Tse-hsiu's "High Mountains, Ancient Affections" ?series, the 1954 work is a portrait of an older Atayal woman, the camera angle inclined toward the thin-stemmed pipe she holds in one corner of her mouth. The subject's head occupies much of the picture, with the focus concentrated on her face, headdress, and pipe. By contrast, the images of the two women behind her grow smaller and less distinct as they recede in space. Those two women and a younger woman in the far right, her head and body only partially visible, serve as background to the central figure. The compositional device is one Huang often used to create contrast in his portraiture, focusing on a single individual in a group of people.