Chen Chieh-jen is currently the most renowned contemporary Taiwanese artist, participating in numerous worldwide art biennals and exhibitions. Firstly, this paper will narrate how Chen managed to become an artist, while, at the same time, an anylysis of Taiwan´s sociopolitical and cultural history will be presented. The analysis will be from an unusual viewpoint: that of Taiwanese contemporary art, a field of study marginalized by Western Scholars in Taiwanese Studies. The testimonies of its protagonists, Taiwanese artists, will also be included. Secondly, the lifting of a 40 year period of martial law in 1987 symbolizes the kickoff point for the development of contemporary Taiwanese art. Chen Chieh-jen, as many other Taiwanese artists, participated in this process. making use of his body to state his sociopolitical stance. This paper will demonstrate how the body became one of the main focal points in contemporary art in Taiwan. Having been hidden by censorship, the body was turned into an instrument of political condemnation, an even a key element in the local claim of Taiwanese identity. And finally, we will analyze how Chen Chien-jen developed his own artistic interpretation of the body, beginning with his political performances and moving onto the recovery of his personal identity and story through the medium of his black and white photographic series.