Part 1 – Goodbye (2019-2023)
The first part of the project pays homage to the bus driver uncle whom I never got to know. I felt a sense of duty under the Chinese Confucius model of filial piety to relieve my mother’s pain, and to respond his passing through commemorative rituals. Using his collection of archival images, bus magazines and photographs of buses, I handcrafted a series of photo collages. The collage work narrates an imagined story of his afterlife, between his passing and future reincarnation. It is inspired by one of Kaufu’s favourite Japanese manga series, Galaxy Express 999.
The series was exhibited as part of the Singapore International Photography Festival 2020, and Objectifs’ Women in Film and Photography 2021 (Singapore).
On his third death anniversary 28th January 2022, my mother and I performed a ritual of burning the photo collages as offerings for Kaufu. She also recited a poem that she wrote for him. The ritual symbolised the end our mourning for him.
The whole process was documented with video and is currently being made into a film called 'Goodbye'.
