On the occasion of the 2025 edition of Art Basel Hong Kong (Booth 3C43), YIRI ARTS (Taipei) is proud to present Elephant in the Closet, a site-specific presentation by Huang Po-Chih.
Nominated for the HUGO BOSS Asia Arts Award in 2015, and recipient of the Prudential Eye Awards in 2016, Huang Po-Chih’s work has been widely shown across the globe. This new presentation will debut a series of photographs and video installation, alongside key pieces from recent solo exhibitions at Hayward Gallery HENI Project Space, London (2024), and Mumok, Vienna (2021).
Drawing upon his family heritage—particularly his mother’s experiences as a garment worker in Northern Taiwan—Huang Po-Chih collates the personal narratives of individuals involved in the garment industry across China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan from the 1960’s up to the present day.
During World War II, an elephant named Lin Wang served in the Chinese army against Japan. Later, as the Chinese Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan, Lin Wang became a symbol of workers in government propaganda. In the era of Taiwan's martial law, visits to see Lin Wang at the zoo offered many, including Huang’s mother, a rare escape from daily struggles.
In the series of black and white photographs, Huang’s mother and Ms. Kim, a textile worker from Seoul, assume elephantine poses, acting out the metaphor of the ‘blue elephant,’ which references the elephant as a historical symbol of economic development in Taiwan, as well as the swollen, blue-dyed limbs of the workers who produced the garments.
For Elephant in the Closet, Huang will collaborate with his children, who reinterpret the story of Lin Wang and the labor experience of their grandmother through playful use of found clothing, movement, and storytelling. These interpretations will be expressed through photography, written manuscripts, and objects, bridging generational perspectives.
