If justice is not being practiced by the people alive, the anger and the sadness of the spirits will still linger upon our shared reality.

In 2018, when I visited Shaman Grandma Kating Hongan in the Tafalong community, an ancestral spirit possessed her – one of the great-grandfathers from He's family. This spirit, consumed by anger, unleashed a thunderous proclamation aimed at those gathered. His ire was fueled by the Taiwanese Han's intrusion into their community, and he bemoaned the inability of Tafalong's young generations to rebuild their Kakita'an (ancestor's home) properly.

Grandma Kating Hongan passed away just seven days after my visit. It was then that the profound realization struck me: if justice is not upheld by the living, the spirits' anger and sorrow shall endure, their unresolved grievances echoing through time.

The narrative of history is predominantly shaped by those in power. As an artist, I yearn to explore the uncharted territories of history witnessed through spiritual, personal, familial, and communal perspectives. I aspire to reveal how historical narratives can transcend their naïveté, their supposed commitment to truth, and embrace their inevitable inclination toward bias and transgression.

This aspiration led me to create #Ghostkeepers. This project encourages people to share untold stories of the oppressed and the oppressors, particularly in the post-Cold War era in their respective countries. Then, we invite a diverse group of writers from various cultural backgrounds to create a Facebook avatar for these stories, writing in a first-person perspective and simulating how these Ghosts might think of their countries nowadays, how would they interact with the other ghosts and audiences, and what’s their thought on utilizing different languages as a medium to communicate.

The project eventually created avatars from Yugoslavia, Hungary, Taiwan, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Vietnam, Ukraine, and more. It serves as a conduit for people to bear witness to the meticulous process of research, writing, and engaging in dialogue with the departed. Through this initiative, we enable the deceased to have a voice, to express their trauma, and to engage in conversations that traverse the boundaries of time and culture.