Join us from August 15 to 17 for two art workshops and a keynote speech featuring CHEN Yu-He, co-presented by the UW Taiwan Studies Arts & Culture Program, Seattle Taiwanese Language Association, and the Taiwan World Portrait Project (see below for the full list).
Art Workshops | Aug 15 (Fri) & Aug 17 (Sun), 2–5 PM | UW Thomson Hall 317 (scroll down for workshop-specific notes)
Keynote Speech | Aug 16 (Sat), 2–4 PM | OCAC in Seattle
RSVP is required: tinyurl.com/TWWorldPortrait
All events are free and open to the public! Seats are limited!
The primary language of this program is Mandarin. If you need assistance with English–Mandarin interpretation, please indicate this in your RSVP.
For questions or additional assistance, please contact Ya-Tung (seatl.assoc@gmail.com).
“World Portraits” Overview
(Excerpt from Director Hui-Ling Chen’s “Message from the Project Founder”)
In 2023, while touring the U.S. with screenings of A Letter to Ama, Hui-Ling deeply felt the rapid passing of the first-generation Taiwanese Americans. This made me realize the urgency of documenting these grassroots histories. After the tour, I launched the World Portraits: Starting from Taiwan’s Collective Creative Experience 2025, with the hope of contributing what I’ve learned from a decade of working with teachers in Taiwan on the Island Collective Memory Project. My goal is to adapt this experience into memory-based creative workshops tailored for overseas Taiwanese communities and to support local organizations in training educators.
The World Portraits: Starting from Taiwan’s Collective Creative Experience 2025 has two main features: collaborative community art-making and story exchange.
Collaborative community art-making is a form of performance art that gives visual and sensory expression to the responsibility of cultural inheritance, integrating it into everyday life. Through the act of co-creation, it builds a tangible form of collective memory from the grassroots. Compared to traditional oral history interviews or published historical records, this approach is more expressive, emotionally resonant, and often profoundly moving on a personal level.
Story exchange is the core element of the memory-creation workshops and carries strong art-therapy effects. Each participant is both a storyteller and a listener. This format fosters deep mutual understanding and empathy among community members in a short period. Over time, it helps form various types of “communities of life” — whether it’s within a building, a street, a neighborhood, or even across ethnic and national boundaries. With continued practice, Taiwanese Americans will be able to share these experiences with other communities, contributing meaningfully to the multicultural and dialogue-seeking fabric of American society.
- Due to limited time and to ensure a smoother process, a “Family Story Interview Form” will be sent out before the event. Please complete the interview before the day of the event.
- The works may be exhibited in Taiwan. However, since transporting them can be inconvenient, we will use scanned reproductions of the interview forms instead. Therefore, participants will be asked to sign a “Reproduction Authorization Consent Form” on the day of the event.
- At the end of the event, there will be a story-sharing session. This session will be recorded, so a “Media Release Form” will be provided for participants to sign.
- Further details will be communicated via email. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the documents, please feel free to contact us at any time.
This free program is a collaborative effort between the UW Taiwan Studies Arts & Culture Program and Taiwan World Portrait Project, and our generous partners: Utah State University Extension, Taiwanese American Foundation of San Diego, Taiwanese American Community Center-UC San Diego, Center for Taiwan Studies, Taiwan Center Foundation of Greater Los Angeles & Taiwan School, Taiwanese Association of Northwest Los Angeles, East Bay Taiwanese Association, Seattle Taiwanese Language Association, KITA Foundation, Team Taiwan Foundation, Professor Chen Wen-Chen Memorial Foundation, and Dr. Chen Wen-chen Memorial Foundation (Taiwan).