The 2020 Green Island Human Rights Art Festival is set to run from May 15 to Sept. 15 at the outlying Green Island White Terror Memorial Park. Organized by the National Human Rights Museum, the annual event not only highlights the voice of non-mainstream communities, it also invites participants to consider the idea of "the marginalized" in an unconventional way through mediums spanning imagery, text, and art.
Accompanied by the tagline "If On The Margin, Draw A Coordinate," the four-month festival provides a platform whereby a total of 19 artists and groups from home and abroad challenge the existing social order by exploring the geographical and metaphorical implications of what constitutes as center and periphery — from the perspective of the marginalized.
Designed by seasoned curator Sandy Hsiu-chih Lo (羅秀芝) who was also the mastermind behind the Green Island-based event last year, the 2020 edition of the festival features Paiwan artist En Man Chang (張恩滿), Taiwanese artist Wang Ding-yeh (王鼎曄), Nepal-based conceptual artist Ashmina Ranjit, two Thai artists collectively known as "jiandyin," and Baan Noorg Collaborative Arts and Culture, a non-profit artist initiative the Thai duo launched in 2011, among others.
Echoing the 2020 theme, a special exhibition titled "Memory & Marginalization" will be held alongside the festival to explore the entangled relations between Taiwan proper and the outlying Green Island where political prisoners were detained and tortured during the White Terror era, a period of time when martial law was enforced from 1949 to 1987.
Organized by Taipei National University of the Arts, the exhibition seeks to encourage reflection on how Taiwanese society can better deal with its painful past and how the dark chapters in the history of Green Island relate to present-day issues pertaining to democracy.
The cultural event is a yearly commemoration of the suffering and pain of political victims who were imprisoned on the islet. In addition, a series of workshops will take place in conjunction with the 2020 festival to shed light on Green Island's negative heritage. More information is available on the bilingual event website here.
2020 Green Island Human Rights Art Festival
• Date: May 15 – Sept. 15, 2020
• Venue: Green Island White Terror Memorial Park
• Address: No. 20 General Rock, Green Island Township, Taitung County
• Hours: 9am – 5pm (Mondays through Sundays)
• Site: https://gihraf.wixsite.com/gihraf