"Comfort women" is not just a synonym for history
Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation (TWRF) since 1992, the investigation of "comfort women" from Taiwan and the human rights campaign to seek compensation from Japan have been launched.Over the past 1/4 century, it has accompanied and cared for the grandmothers physically and mentally, and has preserved 5,042 audio-visual and books related to "comfort women", as well as 730 cultural relics. This group of grandmas who raced against life and gradually disappeared in time, they turned their anger into perseverance, their pain into tenderness, they supported each other through the long road, and in the last life, they forgave in the name of love , appreciate themself, and have the courage to dream, reconcile with life, and become a luminous body that illuminates others. They bravely stood up to speak out for themselves and their sisters, demonstrating the energy of victims advocating for themselves that is rarely seen in the history of gender-based violence movements.
In 2004, TWRF started to brew a dream, hoping to find a place to preserve the life stories of grandmas and record their extraordinary and perseverance life force. The process of finding the venue has gone through numerous setbacks and difficulties, lease an elegant old building in Dadaocheng, Taipei until the end of 2015. Relying on a sense of mission and courage, independently raised funds to build "Ama Museum". After 12 years of preparation and efforts, Ama Museum Inaugurated on March 8, 2016 and formally established on December 10, it recorded the life stories of 59 "comfort women" grandmas in Taiwan after suffering and tempering. It is Taiwan's first multi-functional social education base based on the "comfort women" human rights movement, gathering contemporary women's human rights issues and women's empowerment training.
On November 7, 2020, due to the impact of the epidemic, finances, and the expiration of the lease, the Ama meseum located in Dihua Street, Datong District reluctantly announced that it would be temporarily closed. However, after more than a year of hard work, and with the support of friends and kind-hearted people who care about Ama meseum, Ama meseum moved to the same new location in Datong District. This area is the earliest developed area in Taipei, such as Dihua Street, Confucian Temple, and Baoan Palace are all located here. Among them, Dadaocheng was even more prosperous. Grandma’s House reopened in this place full of history and culture, appears to be very meaningful. The new Ama museum will be in trial operation from October 27th to November 25th, 2010, and will be officially opened on November 26th, 2021.
Ama museum's appearance and entrance of the new building.
Ama museum's new permanent exhibition area.
Ama meseum's origin of name
TWRFuse "Ama" (Taiwanese for grandma) to refer to the "comfort women" survivors we accompany and serve. On the one hand, when the historical facts of "comfort women" were exposed in the 1990s, most of these survivors were elders in their 60s and 70s. On the other hand, apart from being victims of sexual violence in World War II, they are actually ordinary Taiwanese grandmas, with many joys, sorrows in life, and they possess the characteristics of tenderness and strength of early Taiwanese women.
Therefore, the building is named "Ama museum" to commemorate the life stories of these grandmas as a starting point, and at the same time have a life dialogue with contemporary women across time and space. This place is warm, equal, and radiates freedom. It is like grandma, guarding your spiritual home, and it is also a dialogue space dedicated to women, gender, and human rights care.
Ama meseum's LOGO meaning
Nüshu culture: Nüshu originated in the Jiangyong area of Hunan Province. It is different from the Chinese Chinese character system dominated by men. It is the only female writing in the world that uses characters to express self-awareness. Nüshu characters are rhombus-shaped, beautiful and thin, and all characters have only four strokes: dots, vertical and oblique arcs, so they can present the unique sensibility, elegance, harmony and softness of women.
The word "Ama" inscribed by Taiwanese female calligrapher TONG, YANG-TZE is full of power , combining the word "female" in Nüshu, brings out the soft and firm characteristics of Taiwanese women, and also means that Ama museum is a place of peace of mind that brings strength to women.
Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation (TWRF)