臺灣文學虛擬博物館

The protagonist of the novel "Passing through Luo Jin" is an actor in a traditional Chinese drama. From clothing to wording, the scene plays out the perfect metaphor for the evolvement of gender awareness in Taiwan. What once was still is, the story walks through this world to the next, and speaks of human body within a society.

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This exhibition tells the story of gender revolution in the literary world, where sensitive minds were once again ahead of their time. They were there to reject old rules; and in this case, rules on gender. They brought up new ideas regarding male and female power roles, regarding love and lust, and stirred the society with their pens.

This exhibition will first walk you back to the time where females were always considered inferior to men, where romantic relationships were firmly framed under male-and-female-only, and where the wheels started to turn to the present pursuit for diversity and tolerance. Just like many others, the story shall begin with once upon a time, where damsels were again in distress because their freedom was hindered by feudal code of ethics. It was a time when women could only make obscure protests through supernatural fairy tales and legends. It wasn't until the post-Japanese colonial period that the issue of female oppression was finally brought to light. Unfortunately, very few sympathized enough to give a voice, and those who did were largely men. After the war, a wave of immigration from the mainland came to Taiwan, bringing women writers who not only demonstrated their female elegance and talents, but also untraditional writings on lust and homosexuality. With their pens, they tried to break the wall of patriarchy. Soon after the martial law ended, they began to thrive along with everything else. Magazines, street protests, legislations, and passionate writings burst forth and formed powerful social forces.

Sex can be both motional and textual. This special exhibition on "Sex in Text" brings you insights of Taiwan Literature on the manipulations of sexual organs within patriarchy, feminism, and empowerment. Each text literally took a fight to break into the light.

◎ Art Installation: LUCID DREAM  (Huang Chih-cheng 2021)

Materials: yuan paper, thin fiber paper, mulberry paper, gold leaf, silver leaf, sewing thread, ink, and mixed media.

A lucid dream is a dream in which a dreamer knows that they are dreaming. The artist aimed to show that a social movement is a process where participants are consciously dreaming and taking actions. With various types of paper as well as quotes and metaphors from gender-focused literature, this art piece demonstrates clothes from different eras. The process of sewing on paper and creating patchworks reflects the desires of people from the past. Just as we cannot imagine past suppression and conservativism, the cutting edge appeal of contemporary gender movements may be commonplace in the future, depending on how progressive our society becomes.