In an Asian first, LGBTQ art in Taiwan
Taipei’s Museum of Contemporary Art is through November 5 hosting the first LGBTQ exhibition ever held in an Asian art museum.
“Spectrosynthesis: Asian LGBTQ Issues and Art Now” features 50 works by 22 artists from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China, the United States and Singapore.
“Spectrosynthesis” is a mingling of “spectrum” and “photosynthesis”. The show has as its theme “Spectrum of light”, as shone on the LGBTQ community’s rich and diverse history.
The exhibition’s co-organiser, the Sunpride Foundation, supports artistic practice and promotes equal rights for LGBTQ individuals through meticulous research and discourse on contemporary art.
As the first exhibition on LGBTQ issues at a government-run art museum in a Chinese society, “Spectrosynthesis” features works that span nearly half a century of creation.
Brought together under the vision of independent curator Sean Hu from Taiwan, the exhibition presents a slice of art history, particularly looking at the life stories and related issues of the post-war Chinese LGBTQ community.
The exhibits touch upon a profusion of subject matter, such as identity, equality, the mass media’s propensity to hunt for novelty, social oppression, stigmatisation and lust, as well as life and death.
The works focus not only on the real predicaments that LGBTQ people are caught in on a daily basis, but also provide a comment on the evolving social structure, which is likely to change in the foreseeable future.
The exhibition builds on similar thematic exhibitions that are becoming more commonplace in the West. In 2017 Tate Modern and Tate Britain both hosted large-scale exhibitions of LGBTQ artists, well reflecting British society’s long-term accomplishments in promoting human rights.
However, such exhibitions and research projects have been conspicuously absent from the Chinese art scene. Taiwan is widely recognised as the most progressive and supportive centre of LBGTQ rights in the region and is likely to become the first Asian territory to legalise same-sex marriage.
“Spectrosynthesis” is therefore a timely presentation, “the first exhibition I have curated related to LGBTQ issues”, says Sean Hu.
“During the last three years while preparing for the exhibition, I have witnessed a growth in discussions and debates on LGBTQ issues in Asia. The recent constitutional decision in favour of same-sex marriage in Taiwan is of particular significance.
“‘Spectrosynthesis’ presents a wide range of works which relate to the topic of LGBTQ in various ways. The exhibition hopes to stimulate thoughts and challenge values and perspectives on human equality. All parties involved in the exhibition take love as their starting point, and I hope this is the beginning of an open dialogue on the topic.”
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