The Green Island Human Rights Art Festival is set to kick off June 15 at the Green Island White Terror Memorial Park in southeastern Taiwan’s Taitung County, shedding light on the lives and sacrifices of those detained at the former political prison.
Organized by the National Human Rights Museum, the three-month festival is themed Visiting No. 15 Liumagou, the former address of the jail. A total of 12 artists and groups have been invited to create new works exploring the history of the site through mediums spanning animation, film installation and modern dance.
Also featured is a June 16 screening of the documentary “Spring: The Story of Hsu Chin-yu” by local director Tseng Wen-chen, as well as 14 seminars and workshops.
Speaking at a news conference June 12, Deputy Culture Minister Hsiao Tsung-huang said the festival aims to deepen awareness and promote reflection on human rights violations during the period of authoritarian rule.
According to NHRM Director Chen Chun-hung, this is the longest edition of the festival since its establishment in 2005. It is hoped that the topics explored at the event will help bolster government efforts to advance transitional justice, he said.
David Fleming, founding president of the U.K.-based Federation of International Human Rights Museums, is set to visit the festival in August, before officially inaugurating FIHRM’s Asia-Pacific chapter at the NHRM. Chen said that the office is expected to highlight Taiwan’s role in promoting human rights throughout the region.
Administered by the Ministry of Culture, the NHRM is the nation’s primary facility for collecting and preserving historical documents and materials relating to human rights from the end of 50 years of Japanese colonial rule Aug. 15, 1945, to the lifting of martial law five years after Taiwan proper in outlying Kinmen and Matsu islands Nov. 7, 1992. (CPY-E)
Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw