Hello Auntie! 你好嗎? (2018)
A zine about my aunts and our relationships to each other.
Made at Paperhouse Studio as part of the ZIPE program in 2018. Physical copies were printed using risograph for the covers and the linework while digital printing was used for the colouring. Hand stitched with red thread.
You can find a
digital copy here.
PWYC!
The Hello Auntie! 你好嗎? zine was my first try at zine making. I remember going to TCAF for the first time during high school and being especially amazed at the lofi comics and zines that people were self-publishing. Being raised with the help of many aunties, I wanted to create something to show my gratitude. Often these aunts were parents of classmates or the friends of my mom (who is a exceptionally social person), and whether they were my actual family or not, they would drop me home after school, sometimes shower me in gifts & hand-me down clothing, and take me around to eat dim sum and catch up with my parents on the weekends. As a child, I had many requests from aunties to create an art piece for them & I promised that I would do so when I found the time and felt confident enough in my craft.
It was important for me to create this zine during this time as my family had planned a trip back to Hong Kong to visit my family and most importantly my grandmother, my 婆婆 (popo), who was hospitalized at the time. I had not visited in 4-5 years and I felt that this trip might be my last opportunity to reconnect with these aunties in a while. I decided that I would create this zine as it would be a great way to share a piece of art that fulfilled their wishes while giving me a chance to reflect and honour the connections that I've built with them. Around half of the aunties I've drawn reside in Toronto while the others are based in Hong Kong.
Pictures of my aunts and their portraits in the zine.
As a study in portraiture and cartooning, I highlighted what I thought to be my aunts' best features and gave the portraits a comedic feel while also trying to uphold an air of respect. When the aunts received their copies of the zine, I would receive joking remarks like, "Ah it looks just like me! But I seem a little old." or, "How come I don't look happier?" It seems that many of my aunts are quite focused about their appearance and if I was to fully satisfy them, I should have drawn them as how I might envision them in their 20s or 30s. In response, I would remind them that these portraits weren't necessarily exact replicas of their appearances, but rather capture their essence and personality. Of course, I relate to their sentiments as I grow older and begin to worry more about bodily maintenance and health. Overall, the project became a talking point between aunts and my mother as well as they flipped through the book during our reunion lunches and dinners. I felt that my relationship with these aunts had changed during this trip as I transitioned into college and found my own sense of adulthood and confidence through my training to become an artist and storyteller.
