A touring exhibition of works of art by people who have been on death row began yesterday at the Bopiliao Historic Block in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), with organizers inviting people to ponder inmates’ potential to change and alternatives to the death penalty.
The Not Who We Were exhibition displays more than 20 calligraphy works or paintings by 15 people, including Cheng Hsing-tse (鄭性澤), who spent 14 years behind bars until he was acquitted in 2017.
Not every prison offers art classes, but he had the opportunity to learn Chinese painting from 2014 at a prison in Taichung, Cheng told a news conference.
Photo: Sam Yeh / AFP
Some inmates sent their work to family members, but in that way, members of society would not see how they had changed, he said.
“The death penalty is not the only way to solve problems. I hope people can see the possibilities for inmates who are sentenced to death,” he said.
The exhibition features a simulated prison ward of 1.368 ping (4.5m2) with one toilet and two beds.
Some people say that inmates live a comfortable life, but the simulated cell shows that the walled space with only one window is very narrow, Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty executive director Lin Hsin-yi (林欣怡) said.
Death row inmates are usually known for their worst acts, but few know how they can transform after being in prison, Lin said.
The exhibition aims to encourage people to see the possibility of change in inmates and how that might be prompted through social assistance, she said.
Trade Office of Swiss Industries deputy director Beatrice Latteier, who also attended the opening, said she is impressed by the artwork and wished she could read the calligraphic characters so she could understand the creators’ mindsets.
“For Switzerland, the promotion of human rights is an important concern and a foreign policy goal. The death penalty is against human rights and is neither a deterrent nor does it contribute to reconciliation,” Latteier said.
Hopefully, Taiwanese society would be open to discuss the abolition of capital punishment, with both sides willing to communicate, she said.
The exhibition in Taipei runs through July 26 and would travel to Miaoli County from Aug. 1 to 9 and to Tainan from Aug. 22 to Sept. 3.
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