“Peoples’ Movements” is a special art exhibition running through April 15th at the Tenri Cultural Institute located at 43A West 13th Street in the heart of Greenwich Village.
Luchia Meihua Lee is the founding Executive Director of the Taiwanese American Arts Council (TAAC) and the Chief Curator of the exhibition. Since 2014, TAAC has aimed to foster awareness of Taiwanese American Art within the broader community. They have sponsored many events and presented high quality programs in all disciplines of art, while encouraging cross-cultural exchange between Taiwanese Americans and others.
The exhibition will be open free to the public Monday-Thursday from 12-6 p.m. and Saturday from 12-3 p.m. The Institute is closed on Friday and Sunday.
A Cross-Cultural Exhibition of Contemporary Artworks
“Peoples’ Movements” is a cross-cultural exhibition which focuses on the art which embodies and has been borne from particular brave groups of people acting as a whole and taking a stand on contentious issues by refusing to compromise their statements or actions particularly related to corrupt governments and regimes.
This program involves artists’ works celebrating peoples’ political movements — largely youth-led — that took place around the world circa 2014.
TAAC has selected five Movements represented by these artists’ works: Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement, Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement, the Arab Spring, the Chilean Winter, and the Ukrainian Euromaiden Movement. In the interest of space I will present only two movements in detail. I have provided links below for further information on all movements if you care to take a deeper dive.
Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement
In March 2014, students and other youth in Taipei occupied Taiwan’s legislative body in protest of the plan by the ruling government to strengthen trade ties with China.
Ten years ago, on the night of March 18, 2014, students and activists broke into Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan in an effort to block the passage of the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement between Taiwan and China.
The day before, then ruling government the Kuomintang (KMT) led by President Ma Ying-Jeou, had attempted to force passage of the trade agreement in the Legislative Yuan, without giving it a clause-by-clause review.
Those youth knew that a successful clandestine execution of such a plan by the KMT would lead to catastrophic future events that could eventually jeopardize Taiwan’s newfound fledgling democracy. The occupation of the Legislative Yuan lasted over 20 days and came to be known as the Sunflower Movement. In the end, the students and youth activists prevailed with overwhelming support, and a trade agreement between Taiwan and China was blocked.
Most significantly, not only had the Sunflower Movement been successful in blocking the proposed legislation, its byproduct had profound effects, which in time reversed the course of Taiwan’s foreign and domestic policy. The movement led many of its participants eventually to enter formal political life and thus rejuvenating Taiwan’s political culture.
Taiwanese pop punk group Fire EX.’s song Island’s Sunrise became the anthem of the movement.
Participating artists showcasing original works at the Tenri Cultural Institute that embody the indomitable spirit of Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement are:
Island Sunrise Team 島嶼天光團隊 (Portrait painting and video)
Tsung-Jung Liu 劉宗榮 (Paintings and archives)
Enbion Micah Aan 洪延平 (Photography)
Hsin Yi Liu 劉欣怡 (Paintings)
Chia H. Kuo 郭家瑄 (Sculpture)
Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement
Taking place between September 26 and December 15, 2014, this movement led by Hong Kong youth was sparked by China’s proposed changes to Hong Kong’s electoral system – changes that the movement unsuccessfully opposed and were later imposed unilaterally by the government in Beijing.However, this movement was resurrected on its fifth anniversary in 2019 to protest the bill enabling extradition to China – and trial there – of residents of Hong Kong. Beijing eventually imposed this bill on Hong Kong, further eroding the special status of Hong Kong in violation of the 50-year special administrative status of Hong Kong negotiated by the United Kingdom and China in 1997. September of 2024 will mark the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement.The participating artist showcasing his original works at the Tenri Cultural Institute that embody Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement is Kacey Wong (prints, video, helmet, cocktail sculpture)
Exhibition Summary and Links
The “Peoples’ Movements” Cross-Cultural Exhibition demonstrates intriguing installations that celebrate the artworks representing the spirit of youth-led popular movements of approximately 10 years vintage, thus simultaneously highlighting both the similarities and differences between them.
For further listening and reading on all five Movements and their historical impact, below are links:
- talkingtaiwan.com/fireex-10th-anniversary-sunflower-movement-sam-yang-tells-how-island-sunrise-became-its-anthem-ep-278/
- talkingtaiwan.com/eric-chang-on-the-unfolding-situation-at-the-legislative-yuan-during-the-sunflower-movement-ep-231/
- taac-us.org/upcoming-events
- tenri.org/gallery/index.shtml
KAJU ROBERTO is an accomplished musician, singer/ songwriter, journalist, and an award-winning producer. He is the artist Rad Jet on Spotify.