Artist Biography:
Jun-Yuan Hong holds a Ph.D. from the Doctoral Program in Art Creation and Theory at Tainan National University of the Arts. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Bachelor Program in Taiwan Humanities and Creativity at National Chung Hsing University. His works have been showcased worldwide and selected multiple times for various domestic and international film festivals and video art events. His research interests focus on the development, transformation, and archival construction of Taiwanese video art.
Exhibition Overview:
This exhibition centers on the documentary Yi-Fang (2024), presenting the perspective of artist Jun-Yuan Hong as he intertwines the life history of his wife's grandfather, Yi-Fang Lin, to explore the historical memory of Chiayi residents during the Japanese colonial period and the postwar upheaval.
Yi-Fang Lin (1926–2018) studied in Hiroshima, Japan, with his elder brother during his youth. He narrowly escaped the atomic bombing in 1945 and returned to Taiwan in 1946, dedicating himself to national education. Throughout his life, he witnessed significant historical shifts in the Chiayi region, including the 228 Incident and regime changes. Grounded in family history, the exhibition examines themes of wartime displacement, postwar return, and the contradictions of identity. By juxtaposing imagery of Chiayi’s marketplaces with visuals of Hiroshima, the exhibition reflects on individual experiences shaped by historical transformations.
The exhibition will feature historical archives and related documents, alongside footage of Lin’s granddaughter’s field research in Hiroshima as she retraces her grandfather’s footsteps. In addition, the exhibition includes a cross-national collaboration with Professor Takayuki Kawaguchi from the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Hiroshima University and Associate Professor Wen-Ju Lee from the Department of Japanese Language and Literature at Tamkang University. Their participation enriches the dialogue on historical memory between Taiwan and Japan. Through interviews, archival materials, field research footage, and a non-fiction approach, the exhibition aims to connect personal memory with broader historical narratives, offering a distinctive perspective on Taiwan’s wartime and postwar diasporic experiences.
Exhibition Period:
April 3, 2025 (Thu) – June 1, 2025 (Sun)
Venue:
2F Special Gallery, Chiayi Art Museum
Exhibition Talks:
April 19, 2025 (Sat) 15:00–17:00
Speaker: KuanYu Chen (Art Critic)
May 10, 2025 (Sat) 15:00–17:00