Hayward Gallery announces Huang Po-Chih: Waves in partnership with RC Foundation, Taiwan

The Hayward Gallery, in partnership with the RC Foundation, Taiwan (R.O.C.), presents Huang Po-Chih: Waves (9 Oct 2024 – 5 Jan 2025), a multidisciplinary exhibition from Taiwanese artist Huang Po-Chih imaginatively reflecting on the socio-political impacts of the globalised garment industries in East Asia.

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. Waves is the artist’s first solo exhibition in the UK, and the second exhibition in the RC Foundation Project Space Exhibition Series at the Hayward Gallery, showcasing the next generation of emerging international artists.

Featuring new video and text-based work as part of a presentation of installation, photography and sculpture, the exhibition draws upon the artist’s family heritage – particularly his mother’s experiences as a garment worker in Northern Taiwan. 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.

Each anecdote takes place against a backdrop of migration and global trade. With circulating themes and narratives across the work, a sense of fluidity serves as a metaphor for the turbulent conditions faced by the generally low-paid workers in the East Asian textile industry.