In commemoration of the one-year anniversary of the demolition of the Chang Pharmacy in Dapu Borough (大埔), Miaoli County, social activist and artist Liu Tsung-jung (劉宗榮) and others on Friday last week finished a painting on the building’s sole remaining wall.
On July 18 last year, four houses in Jhunan Township’s (竹南) Dapu, including the building housing the Chang Pharmacy, were demolished against the will of their owners to make way for a controversial science park extension project.
Chang Sen-wen (張森文), owner of the the pharmacy, was found dead in an irrigation channel a month after the forced demolition. The cause of death remains unclear.
Photo: Peng Chien-li, Taipei Times
The Protect Miaoli Youth Alliance, which held the commemoration concert on Friday, said it had asked Liu, who had painted Chang’s portrait for his funeral, to paint the remaining wall of the pharmacy to leave an indelible mark in history.
Liu began painting on Wednesday last week, and he said that he had based his concept for the painting on the shield-shaped badge of the police.
Liu added that he had included the portraits of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) to satirize the government for its forced demolition of citizen’s residences.
However, Liu said that he was afraid his work would hurt the family as it also included a portrait of Chang, adding that he had talked with Chang’s widow Peng Hsiu-chun (彭秀春) many times to avoid misunderstandings.
Liu also documented his painting process through the use of time-lapse photography, a technique that creates the illusion of “speeding up” time, and put it on YouTube.
Titled Justice Not Forgotten (正義，不會忘記), the video uses the Village Armed Youth Band’s (農村武裝青年) song City without Memories (失去記憶的城市) as its background music.
The song includes the lyrics: “Cut down all the trees, and tear down all the heritage. You said you would make green parks and low-carbon emission cities, but you’ve built the cities full of condos and sacrificed our orchards and fields, selling the land on which they grow as commodities.”
The song’s lyrics aptly convey people’s helplessness in the Dapu incident, Liu said, adding that he hoped to let more people understand the incident through the less confrontational medium of art.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS