Sunday, October 25, 2009

My Little Prince / 我的小王子

週末深夜進家門時,有股細細小小的聲音喊著:汪達姨,小王子從門邊探出頭來,他很嚴肅地說,我有事情要問妳。小王子拿出我們前幾個星期前的塗鴉,他指著有三個人的那輛車,問:妳記得這是誰嗎?我思索了一下回答:這是阿嬤和小阿姨,開車的是阿竣舅舅。小王子恍然大悟地點點頭,「我也是麼想。」我說:「很晚了,只有你一個人不睡覺呢!」他說:「我等你回來問你這個問題,現在我可以去睡覺了。」小王子把車排好之後,很安心地就寢去了。

When I tiptoed home late on a weekend night, a tiny soft sound greeted me, “Auntie Wanda!” The Little Prince stuck his head out of the door. He looked at me with a pensive face, “I have a question for you.” He whizzed into the living room and came to me with a doodle we had done together a few weeks earlier. He pointed at the car with three people in it. “Do you remember who they are?” I searched for the answer in my memory, “The passengers are Granny and Little Auntie. The driver is Uncle Jun.” My reply took off the weight on his mind. “That’s what I thought.” Seeing him all alone, I couldn’t help asking, “It’s late. How come you aren’t in bed?” He said, “I was waiting for you to ask you the question. Now I have the answer. I can go to sleep.” Lining his cars on the table, he walked into the dark to his sweet bed.

我的小王子有著又成熟又童稚的靈魂,我不知道將來的他會變成甚麼樣,但是我希望可以用圖畫留住他為小問題認真苦惱的那刻。

My Little Prince has a mature and childlike soul. I have no clue what he’ll turn out to be in the future, but I want more than anything to keep the moment when he took a small problem seriously, which so moved me.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Decision / 決定

從九月底開始,我就像能量小兔不停地規劃展覽的內容,想說的東西太多,卻又割捨不掉其中任何一環,所以我有種不是很相信自己的感覺,我真的做得出來嗎?

From the end of September, I’d been planning the exhibit with the incredible stamina of the Energizer bunny. There was so much I wanted to say, and I didn’t want to do without any detail. So I couldn’t whisk away the question mark in my mind—Is it really possible for me to come up with a decent exhibition in two months?

這個星期當我走到最後的試驗階段時,我突然領悟,我並沒有考量觀者的需要,我只是猛想著自己要分享的經驗,但是對我來說,藝術的目的已經超過自我表達,現在我期許當個能夠透過圖像和其他人互動或溝通的創作者。

Halfway through this week, at the final stage of trying my forms of expression, it dawned on me that I hadn’t taken into account the needs of the viewer. I was blinded by my strong desire to share the experiences. Yet for me, art should go beyond self-expression. I expect myself to be an artist who can interact and communicate with others through my images.

於是我下了一個讓我沮喪好幾天但卻是必要的決定,我來不及在明年一月展出,我得退出和薛吉的聯展,所以到時候步調咖啡的展覽就由薛吉一人獨挑大樑,但是我對她很有信心,因為她的作品呈現和我的相較起來,主題清楚多了。

Thus, I made a decision which was rather discouraging but necessary. I can’t make it for the exhibit in January next year. I have to back out of the duo exhibition with Shaggy, who will be the solo artist in TOTE Café then. I have much faith in her because compared with my works, there is a very clear theme in hers.

花了一個月,旅行的草稿加計畫用掉了四本札記本,我好像又回到了原點,但是如果沒有這些嘗試,我就不會找到我的方向,所以即使有些失望,我明白這個決定是必要的,我不想只是畫圖,我想要畫好圖。

It took me a month and four journal books to come so far. I seem to have gone back to the starting point. However, without these trials and errors, I wouldn’t find my direction. Despite my disappointment, I know I’ll come to this decision anyway. I don’t want just to draw. I want to draw well.

到時候大家一定要來看薛吉的展覽!你會看到滿滿的、繽紛的西班牙!

Please don’t miss Shaggy’s exhibit. You’ll get a heavy and satisfying taste of Spain!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Woodpecker / 啄木鳥

小方繪 / by Von

這是小方獨自在家創作的作品,我可是一點忙都沒幫到,因為我實在太引他為傲了,還要求他以冠軍得主的樣子,和自己的畫合影。

This piece, unlike the previous ones, was all done by Von himself. I didn’t give him any hand at all. I am so proud of him that I requested that he take a photo with his own work like a champ!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Black Holes / 黑洞

每個人都有黑洞,我要到心裡的黑洞晃一晃,出來的時候對它們說:怎麼樣,我還是白的!

Black holes dwell inside everybody. I want to take a tour to mine, and when I emerge, I will say to them: even though I roll and turn in all that black, I still come out of you white and unpolluted!

Saturday, October 03, 2009

The Island Keeper / 小島管理員

「絕無完全空白的空間或時間這回事,總是有可以觀看或聆聽的事物。」 約翰凱吉

There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time. There is always something to see, something to hear.” --John Cage


大多數對於每天重複的日常公事視為理所當然,或者會有被困於其中的感覺。上個星期末,我們得到了一個特別的機會體驗超現實的生活,因為H1N1,班上放了五天假,但我是唯一有特權的人,可以依舊重複著每日的模式,去學校、上愛班的課、在辦公室裡改作業做教材,改變的地方在於去到善班的教室時,只有拉起來的窗簾和四散的講義和我打招呼。

Most of us so take the repeated daily routines for granted, or we feel helplessly trapped. At the end of last week, my class was rewarded with a very unique opportunity for a surreal life experience. We were given five days off “thanks to” HINI. But I was the only privileged lucky one, being permitted to carry on with my everyday work, give lectures to Class Love, grade assignments and prepare teaching materials in the office. The only and the biggest difference was that whenever I entered our classroom, I was greeted only by the somber-looking curtains and scattered handouts on the dusty floor.

我的生活繼續,不過我的身分變得有些空洞,我們因為太習慣自己的角色,很少存以質疑,這幾天我卻開始想,我身為老師的地位是相對於學生,而且是現在這些特定的女孩,之前的或之後的,其實都不存在於目前的時間空間,畢竟我們的存在有絕對性的價值、卻也有相對性的意義。

My work life continued, but I wasn’t so sure about my identity as a teacher. We are so used to our various roles that few would question the validity of each. During the past few days, it dawned on me that my role as a teacher makes sense because of the existence of students, and only confirmed by these specific girls I have at present. Those I encountered in the past or will encounter in the future, in terms of realistic factors, don’t validate my current status at work. I am not denying the absolute significance of our existence, but we can by no means overlook the relative meanings of our roles in life.

停課的最後一天,我到教室裡去晃晃,讓桌椅吹吹風,我一邊記錄我的想念,然後我默默地說,能夠被困在每天的例行瑣事裡,是種看似平凡的奢侈。我在留下記號的同時,班上的每個人用自己的方式和我共鳴,只能和鳥為伴的Pamela寫了一首很棒的俳句,我一定要和大家分享:(邊打的時候改了幾個小地方,希望Pamela不要介意)

On the day before the girls returned, I decided to go for a look at the empty classroom, airing the space a little bit, and uttering my feeling in the pictorial form. I said to myself, “Isn’t it a seemingly ordinary luxury to be trapped in petits train-trains?” After all, that is a sign saying nothing goes wrong.

While I was leaving marks, everyone in class echoed back to me in their respective ways. Pamela, isolated in her small cell and accompanied by a pet bird, created a superb haiku, which I definitely have to share with the world here: (I revised it a little while typing. The broad-minded Pamela will forgive me for that.)

Ciao, Miss You
This is a short haiku
A small gift for you
You know on Friday there was a sudden news
That we’d been defeated by the flu
Three days in the classroom no “Bonjour”
You were the only one left to suffer the solitude
The bad mood loomed
Oh, poor Miss You
But I don’t have a clue
Why there was no panic found in your attitude
You should have been blue
I think maybe you were being mute
Oh, strong and calm Miss You
So much we’ve been through
Life would suck without you
At this very moment we parachuted
Together developing our long love affair
Remember,
Love will always be with our
Sweetest Miss You
--by Pamela Huan
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