WOMEN我們: From Her to Here is an art exhibition and series of public programs curated by Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco (CCC). In collaboration with Taiwan’s non-profit art project “Coexist Exhibition,” Taiwanese artists Yao Hong, Huang Mengwen, and Chen Han-sheng are invited to participate in the exhibition. The main theme of the exhibition is to explore the subjectivity and sense of belonging in the queer and feminist communities, and to feature video and film works, mixed media installations, photography and paintings by a diverse LGBTQ+ and women artists and art collectives from the Bay Area, Taiwan, Hong Kong and beyond, with a focus on Asian perspectives. It is open for free by appointment from now until August 28, 2021. For more information, please visit https://www.cccsf.us/women-from-her-to-here.
This is the third iteration of Women我們 (a Mandarin homophone meaning for both ‘WOMEN’ and ‘We’), a platform for exploring feminism, gender diversity and sexual equality, bringing together the artworks and archives of queer and feminist artists. This year focuses on the importance of cultivating safe physical and psychological space as a way to preserve queer and feminist creativity and cultural growth, and to present the unique but overlooked presence of Asian queers’ cultural identities.
Yao Hong’s mixed media installation Erotic Wallpaper uses extremely contradictory totems to create a visual hallucinatory effect in response to the oppressive speed of contemporary social messages, rolling together Taiwan’s and her gender anxiety to create a sense of unpredictable and weird painting. Huang Mengwen’s photographs and video work Suits and Corsages is an ongoing series that focuses on the women who wore suits in Taiwan in the 1950s and represented a wonderful chapter with hidden regrets with their elegance and repression. Chen Han-Sheng’s new mixed media installation When I was a Child documents the school bullying incident in Taiwan, in which Yeh Yung-chi was bullied for his “feminine” tendencies, and his death led to the enactment of the Gender Equality Education Act in Taiwan.
In addition to the exhibition, Chen Han-Sheng and two other Taiwanese artists, Liu Xing-You and Yu Liang-Kai, will attend an online dialogue with the Chinese Culture Center on the issues of art and equality. The virtual program will be held at 6pm on June 4 PDT, 2021. Please register online in advance (registration website will be available soon.)
The Chinese Culture Center is part of the Chinese Culture Foundation of San Francisco, a nonprofit organization established in 1965. The Center has evolved from a civic activist to a promoter of local arts and culture, focusing on multifaceted social issues, breaking down spatial constraints, and presenting the concept of multiculturalism.
Founded in 2014, Coexist Exhibition focuses on gender issues in contemporary art. Through curation, international exchanges, and space/unit match, Coexist Exhibition holds at least one physical exhibition every year. It brings artists concerned with gender and marriage equality, as well as authors and works willing to be discussed in the context of LGBTQI. Its aim is to achieve the politics of difference and gender identity.