From Taiwan to the World and Back


"From Taiwan to the World and Back" ink, watercolor, digital

Illustration for "From Taiwan to the World and Back" by Fu-chen Lo and Jou-chin Chen, translated by Lee Yew Leong.

Two texts circulating around the "228 Incident", an uprising in Taiwan in 1947. Here's an extract from the second text:

"When the tragic and senseless 228 Incident occurred, I was still very much a child. Trauma was in the air; I knew that something had happened, but I didn't understand what exactly. But an episode about two years later awakened me to it fully. I was fourteen years old, in my second year of junior high, when I had a gun pointed at me by a military officer who then escorted me to a police station, where I was detained overnight..." 

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The Hay Smells Different to the Lovers Than to the Horses


detail 

"The Hay Smells Different to the Lovers Than to the Horses"
ink and digital
2013-2014
Illustration for "The Hay Smells Different to the Lovers Than to the Horses" by german author Philipp Schönthaler.

An excerpt from the translator Amanda DeMarco's note:
"The Hay Smells Different to the Lovers Than to the Horses" comes from the 2012 collection of stories, Life Opens Upward, which explores the psyches of high-performance athletes. Schönthaler's 2013 debut novel similarly examines the pressures associated with pursuing a career in our high-performance society. Whether it's the stress of athletics or professional achievement, the formal question—what happens when people try to 'optimize' themselves?—underlies the specific human dramas that unfold in these two books....." 

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Farthest from Death


"Farthest from Death" ink and digital, 2013-2014
illustration for "Farthest from Death" by Elina Hirvonen
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Poetics of Wonder: Passage to Mogador



"Poetics of Wonder: Passage to Mogador" 
ink and digital 2013-2014

Runner-up of the 2014 Close Approximations contest for emerging translators (Fiction) This story is written by the mexican author Alberto Ruy-Sánchez. It's a bit mysterious, a little erotic and a piece of beautiful literature. Saffron is a essential metaphor in the text, that's the reason I included the flower in the illustration. The text is also a lot about Morocco, and I've been very inspired by morrocan mosaic. 

detail
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Footprints




"Footprints", ink, acrylic and digital 2013-2014

Illustration for "Footprints" by japanese author Hideo Furukawa.

Read the full text here: http://www.asymptotejournal.com/article.php?cat=Fiction&id=60&curr_index=6&curPage=current

Man and Bronze Statue

"Man and Bronze Statue", ink and digital 2013-2014 

Illustration for the play "Man and Bronze Statue" by the singaporean poet, novelist, playwright and critic Yeng Pway Ngon, 

This play was really fun to read and it gave me many inner images. During the time I was working on the image I was looking a lot at different Surrealistic artist and in some way the images I looked at connected with the text. The play contains a big dose of absurdistic humour and a social critique somewhat reminiscent of Samuel Beckett. There's even a nod to "Waiting for Godot" in the dialogue between the Statue and the Man:

"STATUE: Of course I've come. Who do you think I am, Godot?

MAN: Who's Godot? Is he another bronze statue?

STATUE: He might be. He might not be. He's someone who says he'll come and then doesn't. - "

Read the play here