About That March: Things I Remember
1947, Kaohsiung: A Memoir of Survival, Erasure, and Rewriting
 
 
On March 6, 1947, the Yancheng District of Kaohsiung was shrouded in rain, mist, and the smoke of gunfire. The events of that day profoundly altered the city's course, ushering in an era marked by fear and enforced silence.

As time passes, many significant moments in Taiwan’s history—and the people and objects connected to them—gradually fade from public view, entering a period of generational transition. The collective memories shaped by a turbulent era now face the risk of disappearance. In particular, during the long period of martial law after the war, speech, publishing, and public discussion were subject to strict control. Many lived experiences could not be openly recorded or shared, and historical memory often survived only in indirect or understated forms.

This exhibition responds to such historical circumstances by rethinking how lived experience can be preserved and reinterpreted. The paths once walked through blood and hardship not only left a profound imprint on Taiwan and Kaohsiung but also, over time, laid the groundwork for the freedoms and democratic life enjoyed by later generations.

About That March: Things I Remember transforms the exhibition into the private study of a writer—a space of memory that continues to be revisited and reordered. Through the multiple perspectives offered by art and literature, the exhibition invites different generations to reconsider this chapter of the city’s history and to return to that March, a moment repeatedly written about yet never fully told.
The exhibition presents nine important works from the museum’s collection, including LIN Yu-shan’s Handing over Horses and its preparatory sketches, which were sealed away for nearly sixty years due to political turmoil; Gazing at Jade Mountain from Ali Mountain by the persecuted artist CHEN Cheng-po; HO Ching-tai’s File of White Terror series, which documents portraits of victims; and PU Tien-sheng’s The Poet, a work whose title was altered in response to the social climate of the time.

Alongside these historical works, the exhibition incorporates contemporary creations to form a cross-generational dialogue. LIU Wan-lin transforms the long and complex journey of Handing over Horses —from political upheaval to restoration and preservation—into a video work. LI Yi-chih recreates, through painting, the violent confrontation that took place in March 1947 in front of the Kaohsiung City Government building (now the Kaohsiung Museum of History), presented alongside a textual work by WU Chia-ming. Excerpts from Tshīng- siann (Gunshots), a novel by Taiwanese-language novelist OO Tiong-siong, serve as a literary thread throughout the exhibition. Through the intertwined paths of literature and art, viewers are invited to revisit this history with their own experiences and perspectives, opening up layered ways of seeing and understanding how different generations engage with the past.

During the exhibition period, a guided tour will be offered, along with two performances of the object-based theatre work Lost to the sixth, March, presented by Kaohsiung-based theatre director/actor HUANG Chin-fang. . The performance centres on a fourth-generation descendant of a victim of historical violence and uses objects that carry family memories to guide audiences back into a time of upheaval. Beginning from the intimate memories of an ordinary family, the work reopens the traces and scars left by history. Each performance will be followed by a small discussion, inviting audiences to explore—through the creators’ perspectives—how art can connect past and present, and to consider the many possibilities for preserving historical experience.
 


─── Performance Information ───
Theatre Performance: Lost to the sixth, March (Special Edition)

• Location｜Within the exhibition gallery
• Session 1｜February 20 (Fri), 14:00–14:20
• Session 2｜February 27 (Fri), 14:00–14:20
• Registration｜Online registration via the museum website，limited to 30 participants per session
• Performance Duration｜Approximately 20 minutes，Post-performance Discussion　approximately 10 minutes