OBSCURA-child-okonorm-Irene-Leung

Ökonorm Modelling Clay

When Kneading Becomes An Intimate Act

  • Words & Photography / Luci

親愛的黏土:

當你被人搓圓按扁的時候,別難過,那其實可能是,構築最甜蜜回憶的撫摸。

比方說,那天我把你放在桌面,用掌心輕輕壓下再來回推著,將你揉成長條狀後,便遞給剛滿十七個月大的兒子,並說:「蔦悠,你看,這是一支筆吧?」他接過後毫不猶豫便把你放近桌沿的螺絲孔,一邊轉動手腕,一邊抬眼看我,一雙清澈的眼睛自信滿滿地似在跟我說:「媽媽,你看,我在扭螺絲啊! 」我記起了前一天發現他的玩具車子有一顆螺絲鬆脫,因此曾自工具箱取出螺絲批進行修理,沒想到他是把這一切都牢牢記下來了,更奇妙的是會把長條形的你看作是螺絲批。相比起我說你是筆,我那笨拙的想像立即相形見絀。

說到這裡,我還未告訴你,蔦悠是怎樣出其不意地學我捏了一隻啡色的鴨子呢。若干年後,當我給他看這幀照片時,他是會無法回想起這些片段了,我卻仍在搜集一眾零碎時刻,努力將之揉成記憶的黏土。

而當我也在貪婪地以為自己可以把它們據為己有時,其實忘了,你是曾經窩在掌心間,以最私密的距離,摩挲我倆最柔軟的愛。


Dear Modelling Clay,

When you feel like you are being squashed and pushed around, don’t feel bad, because such kneading could be an intimate touch for constructing the sweetest memory.

Like that day, when I put you on the table and gently rolled you into one long strip, I had handed you to my 17-month-old son and said, “Julian, look, it’s a pen!” Without any hesitation, he took hold of you with both hands, placed you near a screw hole at the edge of the table, and started rotating his wrists while looking up at me. His bright eyes seemed to be saying, “Look, Mama, I’m tightening a screw!” It came to my mind then how I had found a loosened screw on his toy car the day before, and how I had fixed it with a screwdriver. I didn’t realise this could have given him such a deep impression, so profound that he would even be able to see you as a screwdriver. All of a sudden, my attempt to perceive you as a pen seemed rather lame.

Come to think of it, you still haven’t heard about how he has imitated me and made a brown clay duck. The thing is, I don’t think he would remember any of these when I show him this photo a few years from now. But I still try very hard to collect every bit of fragmented moments and mold them into the clay of memories.

I wish I could claim them as mine, but the truth is, you were there too, gently nesting in our palms. With the most intimate distance, you have always enjoyed caressing our most delicate love.


Ökonorm Modelling Clay

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