Hsu Wei-hui’s (徐薇蕙) sculptures and installations invite the viewer to question, to challenge and to re-examine gender roles and how ideals of beauty operate to create standards of female perfection. In The Counteroffensives (粉紅逆襲), a must-see exhibition currently on view at Liang Gallery (尊彩藝術中心) until Feb. 28, Hsu ponders the contradictions and conflicts between notions of imagined beauty and the impossibility of living up to an unrealistic expectation that, for many, is all too real. Drawing on her considerable artistic talent, Hsu’s feminine sculptures — dresses, flower petals and kitchen utensils — all made from facial masks, symbolize the human body and the changes it undergoes over time. Guerilla Girls, several installations some of which contains thousands of plastic toy soldiers dressed in patterned dresses and painted hot pink, inverts our stereotypical assumptions about the toys boys play with, and serves as an entertaining and thought-provoking statement about female empowerment.
■ Liang Gallery (尊彩藝術中心), 366 Ruiguang Rd, Taipei City (台北市瑞光路366號), tel: (02) 2797-1100. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm
Photo courtesy of Liang gallery
■ Until Feb. 28
Photo courtesy of Liang gallery
Photo courtesy of Liang gallery
Photo courtesy of Liang gallery
Photo courtesy of Liang gallery
Photo courtesy of Liang gallery
Photo courtesy of Liang gallery
Photo courtesy of Liang gallery
June 9 to June 15 A photo of two men riding trendy high-wheel Penny-Farthing bicycles past a Qing Dynasty gate aptly captures the essence of Taipei in 1897 — a newly colonized city on the cusp of great change. The Japanese began making significant modifications to the cityscape in 1899, tearing down Qing-era structures, widening boulevards and installing Western-style infrastructure and buildings. The photographer, Minosuke Imamura, only spent a year in Taiwan as a cartographer for the governor-general’s office, but he left behind a treasure trove of 130 images showing life at the onset of Japanese rule, spanning July 1897 to
One of the most important gripes that Taiwanese have about the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is that it has failed to deliver concretely on higher wages, housing prices and other bread-and-butter issues. The parallel complaint is that the DPP cares only about glamor issues, such as removing markers of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) colonialism by renaming them, or what the KMT codes as “de-Sinification.” Once again, as a critical election looms, the DPP is presenting evidence for that charge. The KMT was quick to jump on the recent proposal of the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) to rename roads that symbolize
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In an interview posted online by United Daily News (UDN) on May 26, current Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) was asked about Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) replacing him as party chair. Though not yet officially running, by the customs of Taiwan politics, Lu has been signalling she is both running for party chair and to be the party’s 2028 presidential candidate. She told an international media outlet that she was considering a run. She also gave a speech in Keelung on national priorities and foreign affairs. For details, see the May 23 edition of this column,
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