Since 2010, the Taiwan Studies Program in Australia has been a significant collaboration between the Ministry of Education of Taiwan and Australian National University (ANU). The aim of the Program is to enhance and make accessible the knowledge of Taiwanese language, politics, society, culture and history.
The Program is now in its 10th year and Professor Jane Golley, director of the Australian Centre on China in the World (CIW) takes a leading role in the development of events of ANU Taiwan Studies Program. The established and the highly successful Taiwan Studies Program continues to enhance and make more broadly available knowledge of Taiwan and its academic engagement with the Asia- Pacific region.
Drawing Near is an initiative under the ANU Taiwan Studies Program. It investigates contrasting Taiwanese identities through a multidisciplinary visual arts practice. The series documents artist Chin-Jie Melodie Liu’s journey of understanding her own identity as a Taiwanese woman of mixed heritage (of waisheng 外省 and bensheng 本省) through reinterpreting objects and photographs. In examining archival material, Liu further seeks to reveal the layered narratives that co-exist in contemporary Taiwanese society.
On 17th of February, deputy representative Wei-Chung Ken Lai of TECO in Australia was invited to speak for the opening ceremony. He congratulated the success of the exhibition and asserted strong support of ANU Taiwan Studies Program with more upcoming collaborated events in July 2021.
Chin-Jie Melodie Liu is an emerging Taiwanese artist based in Canberra. In 2020, Liu completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts with First Class Honours under Printmedia & Drawing at the Australian National University (ANU). Liu is currently pursuing a Master of Museum and Heritage Studies at ANU.
Liu’s exhibition and the series were recognised with a number of awards. For the details of Drawing Near, please visit https://bit.ly/2N3xQ9J

( images provided by CIW and Ms Emily Gibbs with permission to publish)