text by Lulu Shur-tzy Hou
After living in the States for six years, I came back to Taiwan in 1996. I soon had the opportunity to combine the training and exposure I have obtained during my time overseas and the unique circumstances facing Taiwan in many level of society, especially when I undertook the project “Labors and Labels”. The dialectic relationship between art theory and practice became more intense as soon as I encountered the factories at Hsin-Chuang County. Through the process of getting in touch with the female textile workers, I could see the image of female workers laid behind the miracle of Taiwan economy. I attempted to present the conflict and collaboration between human power and machine, including the voice of lower level female workers. They have worked day and night in the factories; their sweat and tears has become part of the gorgeous textile products. After having won tremendous amount of income for the country, they were forced to face the fate of jobless or switching jobs due to the fast changes facing textile industry globally. During the process of dealing with the female workers, I attempted to imagine a different kind of existence value. When the resonance occurred between me and them, I also tried to identify my own existence. Perhaps the voice of the artist could prove myself as a female worker. The series of work is present in two parts, one is to show gratitude to the female textile workers living on the rim of Taipei basin. In the second part, I exchanged the labels made out the images of female workers with the audience to reflect the phenomenon of admiration of famous foreign brand clothing.
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