An exhibition of photograps by Liu Xia (劉霞), the widow of Chinese democracy advocate and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波), is to be held at Taipei’s Museum of Contemporary Art in March, the museum’s director said on Friday.
The poet and photographer is unlikely to open the exhibition in person, because of concerns that the Chinese authorities might be upset if she visited Taiwan, risking the safety of her brother, who lives in Beijing, director Yuki Pan (潘小雪) said.
“To avoid the consequence [she is] unwilling to see,” Liu Xia is unable to meet the media freely for the time being, Pan said.
Photo: Liu Xia
The joint exhibition by Liu Xia and Tsai Hai-ru (蔡海如), titled “A Swing of Breath” (呼吸鞦韆), is to take place from March 30 to May 26, with 26 photographs and poems by Liu featured alongside Tsai’s installation art.
Tsai is a Taiwanese artist who, like Liu, has also seen a family member — her father — suffer from political persecition.
Tsai’s father was jailed for more than two decades as a political dissident during the White Terror era.
Liu’s photographs were taken during the three-year period that her husband was jailed at a re-education through labor camp on charges of “disturbing the social order,” the museum said.
Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 for “his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.”
He died of cancer in July 2017 in Shenyang, in China’s Liaoning Province, while serving an 11-year jail sentence for “inciting subversion of state power.”
After her husband’s plight gained international attention, Liu Xia’s photographic works were banned from being exhibited in China and were only shown in private settings or online, Pan said.
Liu Xia was freed and left Beijing, arriving in Berlin on July 10 last year.
Altogether, she spent eight years under house arrest.
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
EVA Airways, one of the leading international carriers in Taiwan, yesterday said that it was investigating reports that a cabin crew manager had ignored the condition of a sick flight attendant, who died on Saturday. The airline made the statement in response to a post circulating on social media that said that the flight attendant on an outbound flight was feeling sick and notified the cabin crew manager. Although the flight attendant grew increasingly ill on the return flight, the manager did not contact Medlink — a system that connects the aircraft to doctors on the ground for treatment advice during medical
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of