The White Terror is Taiwan’s collective trauma, during which countless political prisoners were unexpectedly taken away from home and suddenly found themselves facing seemingly unending imprisonment. Since the Japanese colonial period, Green Island had been used for sheltering the so-called “furosha” (vagrants), and from that period on, the island was viewed as a place for exile. It later became the prison for keeping political prisoners during the Kuomintang regime and witnessed the violent austerity and unbearable sorrow in the era of the White Terror.

Nonetheless, this small island off the coast of Taitung where the Black Current passes, possesses its very own distinctive beauty—the intoxicating seascape, pristine coral beaches, abundant plant ecology, mysterious indigenous legacies, etc. However, even though the harsh past might appear to be buried, Green Island today faces more and new impacts, just like many other places in the world: land development and the flourishing tourism industry, while economically benefiting the island, lead to various collisions. As population migration in this era of globalization introduces fresh cultural encounters, the tangible prison built in the White Terror era is implicitly transformed into a rather intangible form of imprisonment.

This exhibition is curated based on two themes – “imprisonment” and “diaspora” to compare varying life circumstances in different times. Featuring diverse types of artists, including descendants of political prisoners, new resident filmmakers, theater workers, video and visual artists, literary writers, sound artists, etc., the exhibition presents participatory art, non-fictional creation, island architecture, archaeology, performance art and long-period artist residency, through which the imprisonment and memories of the White Terror era are transformed into a mirror that reflects our modern-day experiences.

綠島人權藝術季 Green Island Human Rights Art Festival 2021