The Stars That Don’t Look Back
The Stars That Don't Look Back explores the intimate and private memories shared by three generations of women living in Taiwan. Integrating family archival photographs, historical events, and Taiwanese literature, this project serves as an invitation to understand how women navigate through difficulties and trauma during a time of colonial chaos and terror.
Like the root of the tree growing into the soil, the spider’s web staying strong after the rain, the eye centring calmly in the storm, Chen encourages viewers to search for a glimpse of inner peace in the safety net woven by women throughout history and memory.
The Acacia Tree
Fagge Dupan
The acacia tree, a tree that blooms,
Elegant yet splendid, opening its tiny yellow buds.
The acacia tree, with its lovely blossoms,
Though time and again I long to draw you into my thoughts,
You seem unaware,
Casting your shadow down by the pond, trembling in your branches,
Letting the wind scatter your small, unshining yellow flowers.
Running along the seaside path,
Just past the white lighthouse ceaselessly washed by waves,
I come close to the green mountains,
And the thick groves of acacia trees on the island!
Perhaps my descendants too will be enchanted by you—
As today, when I gaze at you again and again.
For I too
Was born, on this island,
A woman-tree.
