Wu Tien-chang is an artist with plentiful creativity. From oil painting to photography, installation and video, he always enjoys using a wide variety of media to freely express his passion and compassion. Wu has a distinctive personality, and his works exactly represent the artist himself, allowing him to establish himself in the art scene with his strong personal style.

“South Fukien Family – The Japanese Occupation Era,” “KMT Family,” and “Yami Group (Taiwanese aborigines)” are all oil paintings from Wu’s early and rare “family” series, once exhibited all together in 1993. Art critic Cheng Nai-ming commented on this series, “Under the perspective of ethnic history, Wu portrays the faces of different ethnic groups in Taiwan that were alienated in various spaces and times, trying to examine the roots behind a community’s collective destiny.” (The Liberty Times, August 28, 1992) Later, the death of Wu’s grandmother, who had raised and educated him, caused a huge change on his artistic style. In the 1980s, with the lifting of martial law, Wu has been widely recognized by the public for his works centering on historical and political criticism. Regardless of how he changes his subjects and media, his focus always revolves around the political, social and cultural issues in Taiwan.

The characters in “South Fukien Family – The Japanese Occupation Era” are all too familiar for Taiwanese people: The elders wear a traditional Fukien-style shirt. Under the influence of Western culture, the middle-aged people wear a fashionable suit or an altered cheongsam, which highlights Eastern femininity. Since the children received Japanese education, they are all dressed in their school uniform and hat. These characters provide with a very important image of Taiwan under Japanese occupation. Having experienced different national identities during the transition from the Japanese colonial period to the martial law era, Wu uses images to compose a political epic about Taiwan’s political history, and creates a record of the art culture in Taiwan.