text by Sophie Mclntyre
As a female, wife, mother, artist, and teacher, I have many different roles to play in life, and I often find myself wavering between the demands of self, family and society. I am desperately trying to find my balance. -- Lin Chun-Ju
As a quiet but deeply committed feminist artist, Lin Chun-Ju employs the vocabulary of form and metaphor to explore and express internal and external realities. In her works, "Multiplicity" (1992) and "The Struggle of Life" (1992), Lin combined materials such as polystyrene, plastics, and metal tacks, with hemp rope, seeds and seaweed, to create objects which appeared as broken fragments, fossils, and deformed life forms washed up on the shoreline. These works comment on the dramatic deterioration of Taiwan's sea life and sea shores. In response to the controversy which erupted over the construction of Taiwan's third nuclear power plant on the scenic southern coastal peninsula, Lin states, "I fear humanity will not wake up until our very own lives are threatened by disease of death". These works represent the continuing struggle between progress and preservation which is being waged in Taiwan.
In a more recent work, titled, "Breaking Apart", (1995) Lin focuses on the concept of birth, which she describes as a natural life force which has both creative and destructive elements. Having just given birth to her first child, Lin became acutely aware of herself, as the female "producer", delivering a "product" which would become part of a patriarchal society which still favours sons over daughters. The artist reflects on our drive to produce and progress, to the detriment of our natural environment. In this installation, Lin exchanges the "hard" materials previously used, for soft, black and white material, which is cut into shreds and bound by this life force that appears monster-like, with tentacles which burst forth from the caverns of the blood red void.
Despite the rapid pace of modernisation in Taiwan, Lin Chun-Ju believes the position of women has changed little. Lin states that many women in Taiwan are still psychologically and emotionally imprisoned by traditional Confucian family values and expectations which clearly define the woman's role and duties as wife and child bearer. In her search for self-identity the artist created "Self Portrait" (1995) in which she covers a black and white photograph of herself with beads and thread which appear to sprout from her face as she looks out at the viewer: a curiosity within a cage. In contrast to the glossy glamorous photographs of made-up fashion-conscious dolls which are commonly seen in the mass media in Taiwan, Lin consciously defaces herself, to express her sense of alienation in this consumer-driven society.
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