French photographer Hubert Kilian has made a study of Taiwan’s complex urban landscapes. Kilian’s photos have recorded the industrial and agricultural corners of Taipei, New Taipei, and Taoyuan. In recent years, his work on Taoyuan residents facing the loss of their land for the Taoyuan Aerotropolis project has won particular attention. But deciding to dedicate himself to art has not been an easy decision. FTV accompanied Kilian on a trip to find some more of Taiwan’s urban tableaux, off the beaten track.

Hubert Kilian walks down a road amid the screech of trucks, his equipment on his back, constantly looking around. The French photographer started his walking adventures in 2020, wandering the coastal regions of Taoyuan, recording scenes from the margins of the city with his camera.

Hubert Kilian
Photographer
I had a lot of questions about how the city is arranged. How are urban, industrial and agricultural areas divided? Where you put the agriculture? Does it need protection, or not? Or is economic development more important? I wanted to use my camera to consider all these questions, and to ask more questions.

In Kilian’s work, Taoyuan emerges as a city where industry and agriculture coexist side by side, sometimes in conflict, forming a distinctive contemporary Taiwanese landscape. Each photo has emotional resonance. After three years capturing Taoyuan, he found himself inadvertently recording history. At the Taoyuan Aerotropolis project, many households are facing land expropriation, in a development that could drastically change the landscape.

Hubert Kilian
Photographer and French immigrant
I’m very interested in the hole at the back of the building. It represents the intimate connection between this land and agriculture. Looking at that building from here, you can judge that its former glory has become a ruin.

After marrying his wife in 2003, Kilian settled in Taiwan. A resident of Taipei, he wanted to find a reason to fall in love with the city. He picked up his camera in his spare time, and began recording images of Taipei, New Taipei and Taoyuan. He’s published two collections of photographs and is preparing a third currently. In late 2023, he started a business, a photography studio, to devote more time to his photography and to building his dream.

Hubert Kilian
Photographer and French immigrant
There have always been two paths in my mind. I was always wavering between them. I used to be a business consultant, then I was an artist. There was always a conflict. So I flipped back and forth between them. I was always stuck between these two roads. Now I’ve reached an age where I’m just going to choose a path and see how it goes.

Kilian’s art has brought him to a deeper perspective on Taiwan, and taken him to many less-travelled roads around the country. He has found himself surrounded by warmth from people met on his travels, and gradually he’s found his own way to resonate with the life of the land. The artist says he’s grateful for the 21 years of rich experiences Taiwan has already given him.

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