An exhibition exploring the notion of the “Global South” and Taiwan’s relation to it opened on Saturday at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM).
Museum director Ping Lin (林平) served as the chief curator of “The Secret South: From Cold War Perspective to Global South in Museum Collection” (秘密南方: 典藏作品中的冷戰視角及全球南方), with Nobuo Takamori as guest curator.
The term "Global South" refers to a set of developing nations, former colonies and non-Western cultural regions, the TFAM said.
Most of the countries comprising the “Global South” are in Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Pacific Islands, it said.
The museum described Taiwan’s position in the context of the “Global South” as a “paradoxical” one.
“Although Taiwan is undeniably a developing country in Asia, it has been prevented from participating in a series of cultural and political movements since the Asian-African Conference of 1955 due to the postwar political context,” it said.
Consequently, the notion of a “Global South” has been regarded as a “remote issue” for Taiwanese, it said.
“Although Taiwan is geographically situated in the northern hemisphere, the historical center of gravity for civilization, it has always been viewed as bordering on the south,” Lin said.
This ambiguity is one of the issues “The Secret South” hopes to address, she said.
The “south” alludes to a specific yet constantly changing imagination, she said, adding that the term no longer simply refers to a geographical direction or spatial dimension, but rather “implies a certain value and charm.”
“The Secret South” features the works of more than three dozen artists and researchers, with many of the works coming from the collections held by TFAM and other public institutions, the museum said.
Refugees in Tarla, a 1943 painting by Shisan Ishihara, and paintings by Taiwanese artists who traveled to Southeast Asia during the Cold War period, such as Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), Max Liu (劉其偉) and Shiy De-jinn (席德進), are among the works on display.
Other highlights include contemporary pieces from the “Global South” and historical documents, while Taiwanese artist Yao Jui-chung (姚瑞中) and Malaysian artist Au Sow Yee have each created new projects for “The Secret South,” the museum said.
“The Secret South” is on display in the museum’s galleries 2A and 2B through Oct. 25.
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