108 pages. Full-colour. Softcover.
175 mm (H) x 155 mm (W)
Bilingual (English & Chinese)ISBN 978-988-99266-6-3
WOMAN TO LOVE, MAN TO QUIT 漫漫地尋・䧳䧳地等
about this book
關於這本書
Works of Li Wei-han, Rosanna 李慧嫻
As a youngster, Rosanna Li Wei Han struggled to learn English as a foreign language, but she managed to master the alphabet by poring over the English dictionary. Now, as an independent woman revisiting the dictionary, she’s concerned that what she's learned is not quite right. ‘Mankind’, ‘manpower’, ‘menopause’, ‘menstruation’—to study English is to always be ‘with man’, but where is the woman? With mixed feelings of joy and frustration, Li created 21 sets of sculptures teasing these ‘man-ly’ words.
On the reverse side of her bilingual upbringing, Li’s kept the same curiosity for her native Chinese. As a youngster struggling to sound out words, she would break down each character into its component parts: ‘bright’ (liang 朗), for example, would become ‘good’ (liang 良) and ‘moon’ (yue 月). Now, as an adult searching for the woman in words, she's playing her lexical tricks on characters with a ‘woman’ (女) radical, creating 18 sets of sculptures from ‘woman-ly’ words. Her literal readings conjur surprising scenes with their own biases—‘aunt’ (嬸) becomes ‘woman’ (女) ‘on trial’ (審); ‘adultery/rape’ (姦) become three women (女女女) joyously dancing.
This double-sided book features images of the artworks and critical essays by Eve Tam, Julie Chiu, Lai Suk See, and Siu King Chung—alongside a fair dose of mischief and a robust sense of wit.
