CHEN YIN-JU
b. 1977, TaiwanTaipei-based artist Chen Yin-Ju draws from astrology, cosmological charts, sacred geometries,and alchemical symbols to examine social power and history.
At Taipei Biennial 2020, Chen Yin-Ju presented drawings entitled Liquidation Maps (2014). Each of the drawings are astrological charts, snapshots of the configurations of the stars at the beginning of five very specific dates in recent Asian history: the massacres in East Timor in 1999, the Lieyu Massacre in 1987 (Taiwan), the Sook Ching Massacres in 1942 (Singapore), the Khmer Rouge genocide in 1975 (Cambodia), and the Gwangju Uprising in 1980 (South Korea).
By linking these tragic events to astrological dispositions, the artist poses the question of what animates history. Were these dramas predetermined and therefore inevitable? As the artist says, ‘There are forces exerted by those astrological configurations. Whether you want it or not. You can accept them or walk away.’
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