Phantom Scroll

Ghosts are not merely the souls of the deceased; they exist beyond the visual realm, inhabiting a liminal space in immaterial form. While exploring the architecture of Taiwan’s streets and alleys, I encountered the spectral remnants of authoritarian rule—images of ghosts shaped by a regime that viewed Taiwan as nothing more than a temporary dwelling. This has transformed the island into a landscape saturated with the markers of consumer culture. Within the built environment and the digital traces of contemporary New Materialist thought, these intangible forces influence the physicality of the younger generation. In their absence from the grand narratives of Taiwan’s authoritarian past, these generations experience an unspoken dislocation, a sense of estrangement.

In the chaotic piles of discarded objects, the ghosts of past authoritarianism and modernity grapple within the living spaces, bound by an inescapable psychological weight. These hauntings offer a moment for deep reflection and critique.

The work employs a collage technique, where the horizontal noise mimics the pixelated obfuscations used to protect privacy in news broadcasts, transforming them into visual elements. The political totems serve as metaphors for the silenced populace, and the residents themselves become dialectical ghosts, hidden within their own history.