A Relationship Like Wool (Part II)
(POSTCARD, 4x6 inch, black and white offset print, 1997)
By the time the WOOLMARK project was completed, Holly had already left for Toronto and was unable to attend the exhibition opening. Her collaborating fashion designer was Walter Ma, with whom she had a long-standing relationship, having photographed a number of seasonal collections for him over the years.
For this project, Holly photographed a black coat designed by Ma, embedding within it a photograph of my mother in her youth. In her personal interpretation, she used a childhood photo of me in Guangzhou as the central image, layering it with her handwritten transcription of a poem I had written about my father. She also translated the poem from Chinese into English.
Holly often wove familial relationships into her creative work, extending beyond her own past to intertwine with my history as well.
Relationships, after all, are intricate and multilayered—whether between people, across generations, or even between artists and their clients. They defy simple categorization as either positive or negative, always unfolding in complex and unexpected ways.
仿如羊毛的關係 （之二）
楚喬完成WOOLMARK個案之後已動程去了多倫多，而沒有出席展覽的開幕活動。她合拍的時裝設計師是Walter Ma，她與設計師也熟稔，因為多年來楚喬替他拍過不少季度的時裝系列。在這個個案，楚喬拍了一襲Ma 設計的烏黑大衣，又鑲嵌其中，一幀我母親年青時期的照片。在她個人演繹的那幀，她用了一張我童年在廣州的照片為主本，又將我寫關於父親的一首詩，譯為英文，以手書方式，疊蓋在照片表面。楚喬喜歡以家庭關係融入自己的創作，這個關係網絡，也不止於她的遠年過去，也蓋及至我的脈絡。關係又是那麼迂迴曲折，正如創作人與客戶的關係，你又總不能單從正面或者負面去解讀。