The Stars That Don't Look Back
The Stars That Don’t Look Back explores the intimate and private memories shared by three generations of women living in Taiwan. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, Taiwan, being the largest island between Japan and the Philippines, is geographically valuable for both economic and political reasons. Since the early 1600s, Taiwan has lived through six colonial regimes. This project mainly focuses on the last two colonial periods: the Japanese Rule (1895–1945) and the White Terror period (1949–1991).
Integrating family archival photographs, historical events, and Taiwanese literature, The Stars That Don’t Look Back serves as an invitation to understand how women navigate through difficulties and trauma during a time of colonial chaos and terror.
Like the root of the tree growing into the soil, the spider’s web staying strong after the rain, the eye centering calmly in the storm, Chen encourages viewers to search for a glimpse of inner peace in the safety net woven by women throughout history and memory.
Léa Chen is a Taiwanese artist based in London. Her practice explores identity, memory, trauma and belonging through a female perspective. Working primarily outside the studio, she creates intimate, collaborative photographs that draw on the natural world to examine the relationship between people, place and cultural memory. Having lived in Taiwan, Italy and the UK, her work reflects on home, displacement and the experience of being an outsider. Her work has been exhibited internationally. She was shortlisted for the PhMuseum Women Photographers Grant Main Prize in 2025 and received the Royal Photographic Society Under 30s Award in 2026.