Carve With Needle

Eastman Cheng

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Fishes Rushing Out 游吧!精神抖擻魚兒大集合 2020

「如果離去總是孤獨的,留下也像無可奈何。那麼就轉換一下氣氛,來個熱熱鬧鬧的隊伍,齊齊整整的一同離開。你的顧慮,也是我的;你遺失的,他也遺失。不用怕,同路魚很多,不用猶疑,游吧!」

300條通透的紗布魚,引領我找尋這位香港軟雕塑家 —— 鄭淑宜

重複的動作,來回的針線,是她的筆墨,習慣往色彩繽紛的布裡鑽,每次思考想做的作品時,顔色便會自己走出來引導配搭。

「其實一路縫一路想著一些日常瑣碎的無聊事,有時意念就是這樣想出來的。」

“If the leaving is always lonely, staying doesn’t seem like the way to go either. So let’s get a change of environment. Let’s get ourselves into a lively, bustling formation and leave together as a whole. Your concerns are also mine; Your loss also his. Don’t be afraid, for there are plenty of fish on the same path. No need to doubt, let’s swim!”

300 translucent gauzy fish led me to discover this Hong Kong soft sculptor – Eastman Cheng.

Repetitive movements, forward and backward stitches, these are her pen and ink. She has a habit of exploring things through colourful fabrics. Every time she thinks about creating a work, the colours come to life to guide the combination.

“In fact, as I sew while I think about everyday miscellaneous things, ideas are sometimes conceived that way.”

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因為疫情吃掉了忙碌的公事,空出來的一年剛好可用來重整想做的事。「每天起床先看看電視,聽聽收音機,刺繡一會又夠鐘買餸煮飯,然後又繼續刺繡直到日落,斷斷續續,一邊看劇、聽劇,一邊刺繡,我會形容很養生。」

「創作對我來說很放鬆,雖然每日都有很多煩瑣事,但是每當投入重複的動作,不但可以消磨時間,亦可以是調整自己的心情。生活在香港,總是很忙亂,無論是外出購物或搭車⋯⋯自己一個人安靜下來的時間是必須的,你可以説是一個治療自己的時間。遇上讓人很憤怒的事情時,做一陣子又會平伏下來,我就是經常在這種狀態下生活。」

「我已經離不開用手日做夜做的感覺,有時享受有時痛苦,但總是常有長時間親手製作的慾望。」Eastman回想從前每次作品做到中間就會很討厭它,覺得很醜陋不想做下去。因為做創作的人時時都會質疑自己,做了很多半製成品,多數不會拿出來展覽,現在知道了,所以盡量不想太多,不讓腦子打風。

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As the pandemic has eaten up her busy job duties, the year that was freed up was just enough for her to reorganise the things that she wanted to do. “Waking up everyday, I would first watch some television and listen to the radio. I would sew for a while until it was time for grocery shopping and cooking. Then I would carry on sewing until sunset, on and off like that, watching or listening to dramas as I sewed. I would describe it as very rejuvenating.”

“To me, creating is very relaxing. Although there are numerous annoying, miscellaneous things every day, every time I engage in repetitive movements, not only does it help to pass the time, but it also shifts my mood. Living in Hong Kong, things are always busy and chaotic, be it going out shopping or commuting… A time for myself to unwind alone is essential. You can call it a time for self-healing. Whenever I come across frustrating things, I do that for a while and I calm down. This is the kind of state I always live in.”

“I can no longer part from the feeling of working with my hands all day and all night. Sometimes it’s enjoyable, sometimes painful, but there is generally a constant desire to create with my hands over prolonged periods.” Eastman recalled how in the past, every time she was halfway through creating an artwork, she would hate it. She would find it ugly and would not want to continue. Because people who engage in creation doubt themselves all the time, she made a lot of half-complete works, most of which are not exhibited. Now that she knows, she tries her best not to think too much and not to let her mind go berserk.

「從來我覺得技巧是重複練習就可以得到的結果,我從不追求技術,我追求的是怎樣完成的方法。因為當你一學到某門技術時,那些方法就會窒礙你去完成那件作品,如果你沒有技術的想法,你就會做得更加自由。」

在疫情下,Eastman 就是這樣遙距地引導設計學院的學生,因為不能帶學生去島上欣賞植物,於是由她在島上拍照給學生在網上寫生,再教他們用自己的舊衣織物來製作布植物,最後完成了二百棵植物,集齊再帶回工作室固定在花盤裡,再搭船送回島上灌水泥。

「我的想法是,由島以外的朋友造些軟雕塑,如鹽田梓裡面的植物,再送回島上,就好像為這島嶼帶來些溫暖。」

“I’ve always thought that techniques are results attainable through repeated practices. I never pursue techniques. What I look for are ways to achieve things. Because once you learn a certain technique, those techniques become obstacles to you as you complete the work. Without ideas about techniques, you will create more freely.”

Under the pandemic, Eastman takes this approach to guide students of the design institute remotely. Unable to bring students to an island to appreciate plants, she took photos on the island for students to do online sketching. Then she taught them to use old clothes and fabric to make textile plants. At last, with 200 plants completed, they gathered the plants, brought them back to the studio, affixed them into pots and transported them back to the island by ferry to be filled with concrete.

“My idea was for our friends outside the island to create soft sculptures, such as plants in Yim Tin Tsai, and send them back to the island, as though they were sending warmth to the island.”

用了一整年的時間,鑽研以針線在布上複製一千元港幣鈔票,並選了1977年發行的。「因為那年是我的出生年份,有皇室標誌和大金獅在背面的英國色彩,是我們曾引以為傲的東西。」

「錢錢錢錢!陪伴我們成長。現在常說香港精神,我只想到這些。」

Eastman took a whole year’s time to explore the use of stitchwork to copy thousand-dollar banknotes onto fabrics. She chose the ones issued in 1977. “Because that was the year of my birth. They have that British flair with the royal emblem and the big golden lion, things that we were proud of.”

“Money money money money! They accompanied us as we grew. Nowadays, there are talks of the Hong Kong spirit all the time, but I could only think of these.”

Eastman於是把她的偽鈔工場設在Para Site的《擱角覺》(Minding the G(r)a(s)p)展覽中,展出製作過程,並由5月14至8月14日期間陸續印製共1200張布鈔票,來展示她的《天痴金庫》(NMNT Vault)。

Eastman thus set up her counterfeit banknote workshop at Para Site’s exhibition Minding the G(r)a(s)p. It will show the production process of the banknotes and print out a total of 1200 fabric banknotes between 14 May and 14 August, to be exhibited at her “NMNT Vault”.

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「對我來說,做針黹是從感覺出發,享受過程,偶爾回想人生,是一種沈澱的過程,多於表現技法。」

很期待Eastman於6月至7月期間在我們的好朋友藝術家謝淑婷Sara Tse的CLAYPLAY藝術家駐留計劃,透過兩場軟雕塑工作坊教我們製作療癒過程。

“To me, stitching is to begin from the feelings, enjoy the process, and reflect on life at times. It is a kind process for sinking in, rather than a display of technique.”

We look forward to Eastman’s participation in our good friend and artist Sara Tse’s CLAYPLAY artist-in-residence program from June to July. Through two soft sculpture workshops, she will teach us about the healing process of making.

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