Prosecutors are investigating sexual assault accusations against Indigenous artist Sakuliu Pavavaljung, who has not yet responded to the claims which have resulted in the suspension of two of his exhibition sponsorships the previous day, the prosecutors said Tuesday.
Prosecutors said they had started looking into the accusations even though no legal action had been taken by the alleged victims involved in the accusations made online during the past week, since sexual assault is a crime that can be publicly prosecuted.
No details about the case can be disclosed for now, both prosecutors and the police said.
The investigation was begun after a Facebook post by artist Kuo Yu-ping (???) on Dec. 16 claimed that an unnamed Paiwan artist, alleged to be Sakuliu, had sexually assaulted a female teenage fan of his work earlier this year.
A few days later, on Dec. 19, engineer Yu Yue-lien (???) wrote on her Facebook that Sakuliu had tried to sexually assault her in 2006 after she had visited an exhibition of his work. She managed to escape.
Following these allegations, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, which was set to feature the veteran artist at the Taiwan Pavilion during the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, said on Monday that work on the curation would be halted “until things were clarified.”
The National Culture and Arts Foundation, which granted the 61-year-old artist a National Culture and Arts Award in 2018, said they were taking a similar course of action.
The foundation said in a statement that it would suspend its sponsorship of Sakuliu to attend the Documenta fifteen, a contemporary art exhibition to be held in Germany next year, before the concerns were addressed.
Asked if Sakuliu’s award would be revoked, the foundation said it would leave this matter to its board of directors as no references could be found in its current regulations.
Born in a Paiwan village in Sandimen Township, Pingtung County, Sakuliu creates works encompassing various forms, including painting, sculpture, installation, and architecture. He also engages in the preservation of Indigenous culture through art and activism.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel