2025
Brave Taiwanese
The Brave Taiwanese is an artistic action project centred on oil portraiture. Through face-to-face portrait-making and the gathering of personal stories, it depicts those who, at different moments and in different ways, have been willing to speak up for Taiwan, recording their lived realities and life narratives. The works are not simply acts of visual representation; they function as a medium of public dialogue, inviting viewers to reconsider the multiple meanings of “bravery” and to notice how bravery is practised within everyday life and mobile, often unseen positions. Taiwan has long faced a condition of international ambiguity and diplomatic isolation, yet this has not silenced Taiwanese people. On the contrary, an increasing number of individuals from diverse backgrounds are speaking, practising, and forging connections around the world in their own ways, forming a cultural subjectivity that is both plural and resilient.
show moreThe exhibition was presented in Zurich, Switzerland, from 18 June to 18 July 2025, coinciding with Zurich Pride 2025. Situated within a public festival marked by inclusivity and plurality, the project extends beyond an interior venue into the city and its crowds. It brings into view Taiwanese people who may not appear in the news, who carry no grand titles, and who are not widely recognised public representatives. They might be students, artists, street workers, entrepreneurs, migrants living abroad, or a figure within a demonstration or march. What they share is that they once chose to step forward and speak Taiwan’s name. These voices may be small or fleeting, yet accumulated together they sustain Taiwan’s presence, shape, and position in the world.
The project builds on a long-term practice of street-based portraiture developed across the UK, France, and Taiwan. Grounded in encounter, conversation, and sustained looking, it translates sitters’ words, expressions, and bodily gestures into portraits that hold warmth and specificity. The work is not a one-way act of depiction, but an exchange between subjects, generating a shared sense of presence between painter and sitter, and returning people to public visibility.
This exhibition was presented in collaboration with TYIE.
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