How to ensure history won't be forgotten? FP writer Wai-leung Lai turns to the concrete contribution of an object-based approach in installation art – his follow-up on his last piece on the show “Mending Years” (2023.06.28-07.12, 5-person group show at JCCAC), to assert the place of the non-expert in completing an art event as a form of social commemoration. 據點作者黎偉亮要求「歷史毋忘」要具體，也許在以「物」為軸的場域特定展覽《縫補歲月》中，他找到了裝置藝術所盛載的一點貢獻。(Editor's notes)
**feature image主體照: Evans Chan's Sewing Breasts (left), Shan Luk's Siu Fung Sin (right above), and Linda Lai's Domestic Moonlighting (right below) at “Mending Years” (courtesy of Elaine Wong, Winsome Wong, Shan Luk and Evans Chan)
談「縫補歲月」，冀「歷史毋忘」| 黎偉亮
揭開黑色布幔，走進暗黑空間。牆上是一爿窗框的投影，彷似動也不動，耳伴是陣陣柔和的音樂，聽不出是誰的創作，甚至不肯定這是否《冷風中 我在》的背景音樂，但寧謐的環境還是令我在那影像前佇立了良久，眼觀耳聽帶動思潮，不期然思考藝術家的意圖：聲音流轉，代表著時間游移，時間既然流動不斷，那麼，冷硬而凝止的窗框影像，是否象徵著身心在生活過程的困頓？又或是表達著現代人情感上的孤獨冷清？答案並不重要，我也不打算翻查場刊找說明。我認識的Elaine是一個心思柔細的人，但單憑這主觀印象推斷她的創作意圖，我想並不公允，重點是作品賦予我思想的空間，體會那直接來自胸臆間的感受，投入了創作者的世界，至於作品帶出的訊息，就容觀者自行領悟。
黃慧心的作品《照片的空白》是另一種表達形式。錄像及照片上是她父祖輩的生活記錄，年代久遠的相中，男人多是白恤衫西褲一度，頭髮梳理整齊，或坐或立都是端端正正的，是老派人的風格。Winsome曾和我說過她爺爺的事情，典型的勞動階層，靠替人理髮討生活，養活了自己及家人，今天已是年逾九十，身體狀況大不如前。我看著那些泛黃的照片，想起家中媽媽亦是年紀相若，經歷類同，也是在奮力的走著人生最後一程，心中泫然。
陸珊及陳耀成導演的作品，不約而同以縫紉機為主角裝置。這些以人力驅動的「衣車」，早已被新科技淘汰，今天看來是完完全全的「古董」了，但在那上世紀六、七十年代，它們卻是無數貧窮家庭主婦的謀生工具。陸珊在「縫補歲月」展覽導賞時，提到外婆在舊李鄭屋邨家中縫製小鳳仙裝，打響了名堂，自己在耳濡目染下亦愛上了這門手藝，當說起展覽中她的作品《小鳳仙》的另一裝置元素，即那件她親手縫製的小鳳仙裝時，她臉上滿是喜悅和驕傲。陳耀成導演的媽媽則是從工廠接下訂單為胸罩加工，作品主體是一串被切去一個胸杯的胸罩，圍繞著一臺銹跡斑駁的縫紉機，延伸部分是以天花板垂下的肚兜作一投射螢幕，穿插的影像是那年代的故人舊事和名伶芳艷芬的「一枝紅艷露凝香」。陳導演告訴我他的母親是死於乳腺癌的，《縫補乳房》是他對往事的回憶也是對母親的哀悼。人人都說那是個艱難的年代，普遍「多孩」的家庭，生活總是捉襟見肘，忙於家務和照顧小孩之餘，主婦們還拼命的工作幫補家計，勞動的痛苦是肯定的，但我想她們心中還是帶著慶幸：工作機會來了，勞累不要緊，心無旁騖地完成訂單， 縱使收入微薄，有一天過一天，心中存著卑微的願望，掙脫貧窮改善生活，並無時無刻地盼望著孩子的長大。這不是我的空想，因為童年時我家裏也放置著一臺「衣車」，媽媽也曾經無日無夜地縫製著「公仔」衫，而最終也是毫無怨言的把她的一群孩子「湊」大了。
辛勞的日子過去了，曾經滄海，回憶起來是甚麼滋味？無論如何，她們都是社會上偉大的一群。
「縫補歲月」描述著一段特定的歷史，而一眾藝術家選擇以組裝真實存在過的物件為創作軸心，重現一段段往事。舊照片、縫紉機、胸罩、小鳳仙裝以及《家居副業的生產力》（黎肖嫻）中的擔條、秤鉈和毛巾包裹等是「現身」而不光是符號，構成了就地展現於空間的裝置。瞬間，時間的距離打破了，模糊的記憶變得清淅，這些歷史遺物此時此地的在展覽場中屹立，默默地訴說著自己和主人們的故事。置身同一空間的訪者，透過視覺聽覺與物件的互動，有時輔以文字，進入另一種異於日常的感知經驗，同時重溫一段被遺忘了的歷史。
歲月悠悠，故事主角都是時間旅人，多已往生，旅程未完的也許無法也無意為我們作解說，或許在他們心中，衹認為自己幹過的都是微不足道的事，然而聚沙成塔，他們的所為卻切切實實的建構了今日的社會基礎，成就了一代一代的人。歷史人物總是功過難分，但歷史的空隙必須填補，藝術家當然責無旁貸，創作之餘亦作記錄，否則，「歷史毋忘」衹能淪為一句空話。
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**English translation by Linda Lai
On the Mending Years, and How to Fill in the Gaps of History | Wai-leung Lai
Lift the black veil and walk into the dark space. On the wall is a projection of a window frame, motionless it seems, and bursts of soft music fills the room. I can’t tell whose music it is, and I’m not even sure if it’s the background music of I Am Here, in the Cold Wind. Rather, the quiet environment makes me stand still in front of the image for a long time. Watching and listening evoke streams of thoughts. I can’t help wondering what the artist's intention is: the flow of sound is the movement of time. Time flows continuously, but what about the cold and frozen image of the window? Does it symbolize the exhaustion of the body and mind in the process of life? Or does it express the isolation and loneliness of the contemporary individual? The answer is not important, and I'm not going to look through the program notes for clarification. The Elaine that I know is a person of soft and refined thoughts, but I don’t think it’s fair to infer her creative intentions based on this subjective impression of mine. The point is that the work gives me the space to think, to experience the feelings that bounce off my chest, and to delve into someone’s world of creation. As for the message brought out by the work, it is up to the viewer how to make sense of it.
Winsome Wong's work Blanks in the Picture is a different form of expression. The videos and photos are the life records of her father and his own parents. In the old pictures, males are always in white shirts and trousers, their hair neatly combed, and in a perfect upright posture, sitting or standing, the style of the older generation, I suppose. Winsome once told me about her grandfather, a typical working-class man who supported himself and his family by cutting hair for others. Now he is over ninety years old and his physical condition frail and deteriorating. Looking at those yellowed photos, I naturally think of my own mother who is also of the same age and has had similar experiences, also struggling to walk the last journey of life. What weighty thoughts.
Coincidentally, both the works by Shan Luk and film director Evans Chan feature a sewing machine as the anchoring object of their installation. These human-powered "machines" have long since been eliminated by new technology, and today they seem to be completely "antiques" of a kind -- although back then in the 1970s, they were many housewives' tool to livelihood in poor families. When Shan Luk gave a guided tour of the exhibition “Mending Years,” she mentioned that her grandmother hand-made siu fung sin (little phoenix dresses) at the Li Cheng Uk public housing estate and was well known in the area for her exquisite skills. Under her grandmother’s influence, Luk also fell in love with this craft. She proudly and joyfully introduced the other main element of her installation Siu Fung Sin -- a little phoenix dress she sewed by herself. Evan Chan’s mother took orders from a factory to process bras back in the 1970s. The main body of his work is a series of bras with a cup cut off, surrounding a rusty sewing machine; an extension of these key elements is a moving image sequence projected onto a string of chest-covers (old-style Chinese bras) hanging from the ceiling. The interspersed images are the stories of people of his mother’s generation and the famous actress Fong Yim-fun with her opera song “A dewy, fragrant stem of red radiance.” Director Chan told me that his mother died of breast cancer, and Sewing Breasts is a tribute to his mother. It was a time said to be difficult -- families generally with many children constantly struggling to survive. Apart from busying themselves with housework and child care, these keepers of the household also worked desperately to help to make ends meet. The pain of labor is certain, but I suppose they might have felt lucky to find extra means. When work opportunities came, it wouldn’t matter if they were already exhausted, as they would complete any “orders” with highest efficacies. This is no fantasy of mine: when I was a child, there was also a sewing machine at home, which my mother used to sew clothing for "dolls" by factory orders. Day and night she worked, and finally put her group of children together, not a single word of complaint.
Those were the hard days and like an ocean away, and how does it taste like when recalled? In any case, these women are a great bunch in society.
The exhibition “Mending Years” portrays a specific moment of history. The group of five artists took the approach of assembling physical objects that have existed as the creative axis to reproduce the past not only as aura, but also as myriads of events through old photos, sewing machines, bras, a folk outfit (siu fung sin dress) and, as in the case of Domestic Moonlighting (Linda C.H. Lai), bamboo poles for carrying loads, scales, towel wraps, plastic beads and more, leading to an alternative view of productivity. These everyday objects assert their presence beyond symbolic resonance. They not only overcome the distance of time, but also make vague memories solid and distinct. “History” stands in the exhibition gallery as relics -- yet their presence silently tells stories about themselves and their owners. Sharing the same space, the visitor is invited to immerse in a forgotten piece of history through the interaction of vision, sound and objects, supplemented by texts.
The past is a long time, and its protagonists are all sojourners. Many of them have passed away, and those still in their journey would not be able, or willing, to offer us any interpretation. I suppose most of them feel that their past deeds are insignificant and not worth mentioning. But as we add up what they have done, the concrete things they actually accomplished form the solid ground of society on which we stand, generation after generation. Let’s say the merits and demerits of historical figures are always arguable. But the gaps in history must be filled, and I gather that artists are bound to the task of documentation as they create artistically. Otherwise, "history should never be forgotten" will remain empty words. //
