EVENT DESCRIPTION
This exhibition features original art from two picture books, “Where Should I Put My Sorrows?” and “Can we Say?”
Where Should I Put My Sorrows?
A dark cloud appeared, and the little girl didn’t know what to do. She wanted to hide it, or throw it away, but that didn’t work. She had no choice but to take it with her into the forest…
The draft for this book was written in 2018. I remember that at that time, my heart was heavy, weighed down like a rock. I felt like there was no way to face the situation I was in, and no way to run from it either. I was in that state for a long time. Maybe it was because I couldn’t “solve” this emotion, that led me to write this story.
It’s not easy to face your true feelings. But with care and warmth, even the most closed off heart can slowly open up. This is a story about friendship.
Can we Say?
Can we say? is a poem by Hong Kong poet “Xi Xi”, Ellen Zhang Yan (1937-2022). The poet asks a series of questions, overturning existing rules of language.
Her childlike wordplay invites readers to observe the world from a new perspective, and even to rebel against the system we are so used to.
Illustrator Joanne Liu connects the seven stanzas of the poem with a little boy and black cat. Together they explore the world, from tiny ants to the universe. They meet bullies and authority figures. But in the end, they learn that imagination and the freedom of expression are what really rule.
