Influenced by classical East Asian culture and modern maritime colonial empires, Taiwan experienced a fusion of cultural currents during the period of Japanese rule. Inspired by this historical phenomenon, artist Chen Fei-hao explores such an era marked by diverse cultural flows in his solo exhibition Poetry Crossing Borders, focusing on “border-crossing” as a concept through the mediums of “poetry” and “song.”

In addition to historical and literary themes, this exhibition also delves into various imagery forms. “Translation Scripts from Those Who Cross Borders” reimagines Han poetry by Japanese poets in Taiwan, presenting it in Taiwanese written with characters and Romanization.This approach, reminiscent of “faux-diary films,” not only deconstructs traditional Han poetic forms but also offers another perspective on the colonial gaze towards island landscapes embedded within the poetry.

Following this, “Okinawa Island Songs and the Tale of a Singaporean Heroine” also deconstructs the elements of documentary filmmaking—voice-over, moving images, music, and archives—into a new visual installation. This piece contemplates the utopian notion of “Nirai Kanai” within Okinawan beliefs, weaving together the “Singapore Minor'” from Okinawa island songs with the imagery of Singapore in “Scenery of Shonan Island,” a propaganda song from World War II, to interpret the varied historical imaginings of  “an island of paradise.”

Finally, “Governance through Kaidan” conveys the legacy of Japanese yokai scholar Inoue Enryo and Taiwanese folk researcher Tsan Kíng-lâi. By intertwining with Taiwanese opera, this work illustrates the “modernization” of Meiji-period ghost stories under the influence of Western humanities and social sciences, reviving this overlooked vein of folk literature. Aligned with the concept of “border-crossing,” it employs a hybrid of writing styles and languages to unveil diverse cultural revelations.