First time Taiwan participates in Hawai’i Triennial – Anchi Lin’s (Ciwas Tahos) work of body performance represents the Atayal indigenous worldview

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LAPost/Hawai (Feb, 18, 2025) – The Hawai’i Triennial is the largest regular contemporary art exhibition in the state of Hawaii. This year would be the fourth session, in which the Taiwanese government participates for the first time. The Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles, a subsidiary of the Ministry of Culture, sponsors the work “Finding Pathways to Temahahoi” by the Taiwanese Atayal/Itaral-Hoklo artist Anchi Lin (Ciwas Tahos) to be displayed. The exhibition will last from February 15 to May 4.

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Ciwas is a Taiwanese visual artist who has been active worldwide in recent years. She has also been invited to the Sharjah Biennial in the UAE and the Stellenbosch Trienniale in South Africa simultaneously. She represents the Atayal indigenous worldview in works through a variety of media such as body performance, moving images, cyberspace, ceramics, and kinetic installations.

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The series “Finding Pathways to Temahahoi” is created based on the legend of “Temahahoi” (women’s community, literally translated as “a place in the deep forest”). Combining with her perspective on ethnic identity, she constructs a body perception of her own sexual minority to rediscover the contemporary interpretation of the legend and belonging, and to reflect on gender issues and ecological concerns.

Her work is exhibited at the HT25 HUB (Davies Pacific Center), located in the center of Honolulu. In addition to the static display, performances by Paiwan artist Sauljaljuy and Puyuma artist Sinkuy Katadrepan from Taiwan are also invited on the day of opening, which fully demonstrates the activeness and achievements of Taiwanese indigenous people in the field of contemporary art.

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With its unique locality in the Pacific islands, the Hawaii Triennial is dedicated to promoting dialogues between the Austronesian regions. The theme of this year, “ALOHA NŌ”, aims to use art to discuss “love” as a cultural practice, and to invite the audience to form a new understanding of “love.”

Mark Te-Yuan Chien, the director of the Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles, said that Hawaii and Taiwan share ethnic origins, colonization history, and foreign immigration. By introducing the Taiwanese artist to exhibit at the triennial and examining historical contexts through contemporary art, he believes that the connection between the two places in the fields of culture, art, and society will be closer.