Formosa Tiger: A Modern Queer Retelling of Hǔ Gū Pó

Claire Hsu

Art
Research

Thesis Faculty:

Clarinda Mac Low, Namreta Kumar, Melanie Crean, Loretta Wolozin

Hǔ Gū Pó is a Taiwanese myth about a tiger spirit who transforms into an old woman and eats young children to maintain her human body. My work blends the story of Hǔ Gū Pó, queerness, and visual storytelling to create and promote positive dialogue around the sapphic Taiwanese experience. Hǔ Gū Pó manifests herself in my project as a physical embodiment of my character’s queerness, highlighting the parallels between the queer experience and the central themes of the original myth. My retelling is a contemporary coming-of-age narrative that takes form as a hand-drawn picture book.

This project explores mythological villains as allegories for queerness, investigating the truths concealed beneath myths and cultural narratives of queerness that have been twisted across history. Through the spirit of Hǔ Gū Pó, I engage in the conduit of mythology and visual storytelling, forms that reach audiences across generations and geographies. My work proposes an alternative storyline for the sapphic Taiwanese community that can be treasured within an underrepresented niche. This project explores what could have been and could be: the histories that remain unwritten and futures that can only be imagined. By blending mythology with queer experience, I create space for narratives that honor both an unknown past and an emerging present. The success and distribution of this project provides greater visibility for sapphic Taiwanese people, fostering joy, connection, and bravery within our community. My work solidifies our position in the timeline – unapologetically and resiliently queer.

In solidarity with myself and my greater queer Taiwanese community, I wanted to make a project that highlights curiosity, hope, and joy. Oftentimes we see queerness closely aligned with sorrow, terror, and villainy in the media. This comes not only in the form of the mainstream media and entertainment but also through the societal villainization of queer people for the purpose of a political agenda. With the recent rise of anti-LGBTQ+ bills in the United States, this has been an especially stressful and dangerous time to be openly queer. Queer people deserve representation that is uplifting.

When I think about the most famous queer Taiwanese media, Your Name Engraved Herein and Notes of a Crocodile come to mind. Both pieces are beautiful and highlight the lives of queer Taiwanese people, but are also devastatingly sad. While this can be a lived reality, there is also joy to be found in being queer. I know there is strength in reclaiming these kinds of narratives, but it’s equally important to have positive representation. This is the place my project sits: defying precedent and setting new paths for sapphic exploration in the Taiwanese community.