Comic Art Museum - Brussels

No, it’s not the thrilling adventures of a comic strip hero … Sean Chuang’s 80s Diary in Taiwan is all about him. It’s an authentic tale of his childhood in Taipei at a pivotal moment in the island’s history. This is a gem for those who love stories based on real life with the addition of cultural references for a touch of the exotic. Belgium’s Comics Art Museum is delighted that this wonderful Taiwanese graphic novel has been translated into French, under the title Mes années 80, and is only too happy to have it in its Gallery.

Willem De Graeve, Comics Art Museum.

Sean Chuang was just a young child in early 80s Taiwan, but growing up in this period meant he was part of the first generation to experience the gradual lifting of martial law. This also afforded him the freedom to discover life through his own experiences: the summers of first loves, broken hearts and Vespas, high jinks with school mates in the dormitories… well out of sight of their parents, of course! Combining comic strips with a career in advertising, the adult Chuang has reproduced his memories of childhood and adolescence in his 80s Diary in Taiwan. His unique sharp style and tender approach captures the warmth and informative value of the major life moments of an era. Some he is not proud of, others are tinged with regret, but he comes to terms with them in his evocative tales which are mostly about childhood and adolescence.

Born in 1968, Sean Chuang has made more than 400 advertising films in 20 years. These have been broadcast in Taiwan, China, Singapore and Japan and have earned him a number of Times Asia-Pacific Advertising Awards. In 1995, by then an established advertising film maker, he published his first comic strip, A Film Maker’s Notes. Sean Chuang also contributed to the book Taipei Café, a collection of novellas and cartoon strips published by Dala Publishing. In 2010, after 10 years of hard work, The Window finally hit the shelves. This full-colour masterpiece uses the cinematic storyboard technique to tell a story without dialogue. Sean Chuang continues to make films with one hand while turning the other to comic strip creation. His third book,’80s Diary in Taiwan (Dala Publishing) came out in June 2015.

The Taiwan Cultural Centre and éditions Akata

In collaboration with the Cultural Centre of Taiwan in Paris, the Administration of Culture of Taiwan, the Taipei Representative Office in the EU and Belgium and Akata Publishers.