Historically, Taiwan was colonized by the Dutch, Spanish, Han, Manchu, Japanese, and Chinese. The rise and fall of different political entities on the island have left behind traces of colonial governance in varying degrees. Despite the freedom and democracy in today’s Taiwan, the ideologies embedded in historical remains continue to influence our sense of self, perception of Taiwan and social relationship.
This project aims to document Chinese Martyrs’ Shrines, formerly Japanese Shinto shrines, and their relations to all kinds of communities, ethnicities in Taiwan. It attempts to underscore the conflicts in the arena: between the dead and the living, between the sacred and the secular, and between national history and democratic values. The relational tensions between Chinese Martyrs’ Shrines and Taiwanese people, as well as the contemporary significance and relevance of Chinese Martyrs’ Shrine in the context of biopolitics and transitional justice, will be thus explored.
On a personal level, I wonder what it means to be a Taiwanese today? How does one’s national consciousness come into being? What is the relationship between the historical figures memorized in Chinese Martyrs’ Shrines and I? How long does it take to be acknowledged as a Taiwanese? What are the values contained in the idea of Taiwanese, and how do they shape me as a person, and our collective future?
回顧過去，台灣歷經荷蘭人、西班牙人、漢人、滿人、日本人、中國人的殖民統治。不同的政治實體在島嶼上興替，留下了或多或少的治理痕跡。然而，即便在民主開放的今日，那些遺跡背後的意識型態，仍持續影響著你我如何看待自己、理解台灣，以及社會關係的互信與互動。
此一創作計畫主要記錄前身為日本神社的忠烈祠，及其與不同族群與社群間的張力關係。並嘗試聚焦在場域裡亡者與生者、神聖與凡俗、殖民歷史與民主價值之間的衝突，尤其，在轉型正義及生命政治的視角下，你我該如何理解忠烈祠存續於今日台灣社會的意義？
台灣各地忠烈祠裡所崇祀的人物和在台灣生活的人們，有什麼樣的關係？台灣人的意涵是什麼？該如何反思，又可以怎樣去想像？我是台灣人這句話所蘊含的價值意識，將怎樣地影響我們作為一個人，以及身為台灣人的你我的未來？