KANG Liong Tjwan
江良全 / also known as JIANG Liang Quan
Born: 16 February 1902 – Died: 15 October 1943
Particulars:
Liong Tjwan was born in Takau, now Kaohsiung in Formosa, now Taiwan. He was living in Amboeloe, Djember in eastern Java, Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. He was working as a producer with his wife Ong Lie Nio, son Kwie Tijoe and a new-born son Ping Hoo when the Pacific War broke out. He was taken to Australia with his family and was interned in Tatura Internment Camp in Victoria. He was hospitalised soon after, discharged, then hospitalised again. He died at the age of 41. The cause of his death is not recorded in documents in the National Archives of Australia. His grave is in the Japanese Cemetery in Cowra, New South Wales, Australia.
–Mayu Kanamori
More info:
Yi-Jiun Wang
Artist/s Statement:
‘Hands’
These hands are inspired by my grandmother’s hands, Kang Sioe-Lian, and reflect my understanding of my great-grandfather, Kang Liong Tjwan.
By focusing on the hands, I pay tribute to the traces left by Kang Liong Tjwan’s hard work overseas — marks of resilience and determination. These hands symbolise my family’s spirit of adventure, of setting forth into the unknown in search of a better life.
The left hand represents the first generation, wandering and struggling in Australia. The right hand embodies the second generation, finally able to enjoy the peace of old age. This journey – from displacement to stability, from hardship to fulfillment – has finally led to the happiness that was always deserved.
This artwork emerges from an intergenerational connection to memory. The artist is the great-grandchild of the deceased, a man who passed away just over five months after the artist’s grandmother was born. Though they never met, his presence lingered in family stories, gradually becoming a spiritual figure woven from emotion and history. The work is rooted in the descendants’ search for family memory. Through artistic practice, the family attempts to reconstruct the life of this great-grandfather, piecing together fragments from old photographs, belongings, letters, and oral histories. It is not only an act of remembrance, but also a restoration of a lost chapter in the family’s collective narrative.
Artist Bio:
Yi-Jiun Wang is an artist, a creator devoted to memory and emotional storytelling, with a deep interest in the intersections of family history, local culture, and intergenerational experience. From an early age, he found great joy in drawing – pencil and paper became his first tools for observing the world and expressing emotion. Over time, this early passion evolved into a deeper creative practice, serving as a way to engage with the past, connect with family, and respond to the present.