These are snippets of my growing up together with my son. 記錄著和小兒一起成長的生活點滴。
Do you still remember playing with your toys from younger years? Shaking your rattle, blowing bubbles, pushing pushcarts around. We were once made merry by the minute energy- transfer effected by our body.
Life can be simple, and happiness does not depend on mere intrinsic values.
還記得兒時的玩意嗎？小遙鈴、吹波波、推車仔⋯等。我們也曾以這些自身的微小能量轉移、令物我互動而快樂過。原來生活可以好簡單、快樂原來不需要金雕玉砌。
Title: an1 gu4 gu4 奀咕咕 (2008-2009)
Material: Copper, Sterling Silver, Glass, Cotton Muslin, Cotton Thread
Welcome to our family!
Title: 吹一吹會⋯ (2011)
Material: Paper, Sterling Silver, Brass, Cotton Muslin, Cotton Thread
Happiness. We Can Treasure, and we can share.
Title: Composition 造句 (2012)
Material: Napkin, Ink, Plastic Box, Cotton Muslin, Cotton Thread
Title: 推一推，比賽開始！ (2012)
Material: Copper Tube, Cotton Muslin, Cotton Thread
Title: Copybook writing 抄寫習作 (2013)
Material: Sterling Silver, Cotton Muslin, Cotton Thread
Title: Shooting 開槍! 射 (2014)
Material: Brass, Sterling Silver, Leather, Elastic Band, Cotton Muslin, Cotton Thread
Minute energy transferred from the body can make things change, or move. I am so happy! I am useful; things changed because of me! 微弱的人體力量轉移，今物件變丶動。 與物件互動，引証了我有用－多快樂！
Title: Cat’s Cradle 翻繩遊戲 (2014)
Material: Ramie Thread, Sterling Silver, Cotton Muslin, Cotton Thread
A soft cord; our hands. My turn, your turn. Without you, it’s just an object. 一條軟繩，兩雙手，你來我住⋯！沒有你，它只是死物吧了。
Title: 花開, 花落 (2015)
Material: Porcelain, Sterling Silver, Cotton Muslin, Cotton Thread
Living in the city, we become more and more detached from the land that supports us. Seasonal changes are being muted by technologies and information. Through experience and remembrance, starting with raw materials and my own two hands, I constructed these flowers. They carry my longings for the land that nourish me. 生活於城市中，人和土地的關係微弱。四時的變化被科技和資訊充塞了。我把實境加上思情，將物料加上手工勞動，建構出花兒朵朵，它們盛載着我對土地的思念 。
Title: Simply Curious 只是好奇 (2016)
Material: Brass, Cotton Muslin, Cotton Thread
Eight-year old already. All those weird and playful behaviours in parents’ eyes turn out to be merely curiosities about the world he lives in. 到了八歲，父母眼中的古令精怪…原來也只是出於好奇吧了！
Title: Year slips by 又長一歲 (2017)
Material: Cotton Muslin, Cotton Thread, Mother of Pearl, Brass, Sterling Silver
I have used Mothering as title of my works for a number of years, witnessing the growth of my son. This current set of work is a reflection from a slightly different angle, my own aging as a mother. The embroideries were carefully stitched, often watching my son playing…time scorched away, becoming what we are today.
Title: Year slips by 又長一歲 (2017)
Material: Porcelain, Mother of Pearl, Sterling Silver
Young buds springing out like them always have, blossoming quietly to the far-flung edge. The year slips by with barely a sound, just a number advancing by. 如常的長出嫩芽，璞實的花佈滿大地。平靜的春去秋來，不自覺又長了一歲。
Title: Memorial… (2017)
Material: Cotton Muslin, Cotton Thread
Title: The Journal over 10 years 十吓十吓：無啦啦之旅 (2018)
Material: Pebble, Sterling Silver, Cotton Muslin, Cotton Thread
Time flys…. 10 years from now. Happy birthday my dear boy.
Title: Pearl and mother (2019)
Material: Hong Kong Sea Cultivated Pearl, Hong Kong Sea Cultivated Mother of Pearl, Sterling Silver
The same material – nacre, composes the outer coating of the pearl and inner shell layer of the mother of pearl. Mother of pearl and pearl are similar yet different.
By placing them within small environments depict the mother earth.
Hope to search for harmony within tensions.
珍珠母貝殼的內層和珍珠表層以相同的物質構成。
本系列作品，以銀打製作出一個又一個細小的空間，把雖同且異的珍珠母貝和珍珠共處其中，搜索兩者張力之間的和諧平𧗾點。
Hands and relations
2008, my peaceful, ordinary life saw a momentous change: from without to within; from within to without; re-conceived, reshuffled.
I acquired another full-time job – motherhood.
Navigating between the worlds of family, career and ideals, I found fractures in my various spaces, breeding conflicts and dilemmas between different identities. I have put in extensive thought hoping to resolve the conflicts and find a way out of the dilemma.
Combing through the veins of my creative life and negotiating the differences of my various identities have become an urgent focus of this new job.
I have a deep love for handicraft. Creating with my hands is a process much like that of an amplifier, magnifying the tiny voices in my heart into a discernible volume. After the labouring, my work makes manifest my capabilities. It carries a cognition and affirmation of my abilities, leading me to believe that through labouring I can complete a task.
For years I have used jewellery and small objects as creative media. As time passes, they have become the embodiment of my own responses to situations and positions, and are the languages that I use to communicate with the world. These objects are tied to my life experience. For me, creating physical objects from materials is the equivalent of creating sentences from disjointed words; one can find in between the lines my feelings and responses to people, events and objects.
My recent works focused on relations. The development of the city prioritises profit and efficiency, gifting the people of this city with opportunities and conveniences, yet their true needs are neglected – even the people are cast aside, considered redundant, such that indifference prevails and relations become fragile (Miles, Hall, & Borden, 2000). With information overflow and technological developments the chances of interaction are diminished (Hopper, 2003). When everyone is busy with their own thing, the pastimes of our time turn from games of interaction between people into digitalised personal activities.
My past creative endeavours often address my perception of various social issues, with my works acting as a form of query, aimed at offering a chance of reflection. After becoming a mother, I have taken greater initiative and I realise that my child, being just born, has no experience upon which reflections can be made. Thus, outside of proposing questions for reflection, I want to address the more human issues. To develop a people-oriented living environment, I shall start with our very own mother-son relations!
雙手與關係
二零零八年，我平靜和安穩的日常生活起了完全的變化，由內至外、外至內的從新思考、整合。
我增添了一份全職的工作—母親。
梳理我創作的脈絡，跟調和不同身分的衝突和矛盾，成了迎接這新工作迫切的聚焦點。
我深愛手作勞動。以手創作的過程如同擴音機，把我心中微弱的聲音放大到可被感覺的聲量。勞動後，作品把我的能力具體化地展現。它盛載着自我能力的認知和肯定，令我相信，經過努力，我可成功地完成一件事。
我多年來一直以首飾和小形物件作創作媒體。久而久之，它們成了我回應自己處境和立場的載體，亦是我跟外界溝通的語言。透過作品，連結個人的生活經驗。在我而言，拿着物料建構出一件又一件的實體，如同把零星文字建構成一句又一句完整的句子，字裏行間是我的感覺和對身處種種人和事和物的回應。
近年作品多着筆於關係。城市發展以利益回報和效率作大前提，為城市人帶來很多機會和方便，但人們真正的需要大多不被重視，人們被忽視或撰擇忽視，令關係慢慢趨於冷漠，再而變得脆弱 (Miles, Hall, & Borden, 2000)。 資訊充塞和科技快速發展把人們交流互動的機會減少 (Hopper, 2003)。在各有各忙的處境下，生活的消遣也由人與人之間互動的遊戲，轉化成電子化的個人活動。
我以往的創作往往圍繞着對種種社會問題的察覺，並以作品提問，從而為觀者提供反思的機會。增加了母親這個角色，令我變得比較主動了一點，我察覺到小孩才剛落地，實在没有人生的閱歷，那有思想可以反思。因此我在提出問題以作為反省以外，也想以母愛的心情，改善和調節一下人性化的問題。要發展一個以人為本的生活環境，就由母子關係開始吧！
小兒自小便不愛哭，一睡醒了就笑，非常喜歡和人作伴。也許只要給小兒一個電子玩具，我就可交換到創作的時間。但時間再貧乏也要把關，我相信真正的觸感玩具有高科技玩具不能取代的精髓，這就是充實的相處時光。
我在書本上一面學習兒童成長期的發展，一面依隨書中的描述創作合年齡的小玩意和他互動。單純出於我愛手作勞動，小兒愛玩的原因，一件一件的小玩意，便在我們家中的工作室推陳出新。
書本說兩歲前後是語言發展的時期。我造了好些和口腔發展有關的小玩意和小兒一起玩。水中吹泡泡、小樂器、小紙球⋯小口每次也先湫一口大氣，全神聚焦，吹！ 氣一吹，物件立刻因而變、動。而小兒每次完成此大工程也滿足地笑起來。快樂也許就是如此簡單。自由自在，無拘無束的倘徉在自己營造的世界𥚃，享受與人和玩具之間的互動，從中獲得最大的滿足，這也許便是遊戲了 (吳幸玲，郭靜晃, 2003)。
小男生一般不是沈迷「車車」， 就是恐龍，小兒是「車車」一族。我把銅管切成小段，彎曲成了一系列減除汽車外形細節的雙圓管，並為它們命名為「車轆」，圓本身只欠小許推動的力量就能走動，我倆各選一雙車轆，手指一動，比賽開始。時而比快，時而比準。小小的「車轆」把我倆手指頭的小能量變作動能，行上了好多的路。 把本來巨大的物件縮小到能把玩於手中，令人可体驗雙手改變物件的能力。玩具是把現實世界的精髓和本質留着的簡單版。把玩簡化了、縮小了的現實，讓人和物的距離拉近了 (Collins, 2007)。
孩子的生活圈子隨着年齡漸漸廣闊，我不再是他唯一的玩伴了。他有同齡的同學，也愛在遊樂場上交朋結友。我相對地在遊樂場旁的時間多了。我一閒下來便手癢，想仿效傳統女性，利用照顧孩子的空檔做縫繡，在家中和坊間找來數件方便隨身攜帶的小工具，如鉤針、編織小板等等。反正成品是什麼並不要緊，重要在它是我時間和記憶的載体。編呀編，有小手指的長度了；編呀編，夠長打一個結了；編呀編，進入平淡，墮進冥想 (Gombrich, 1995)。回到小時候和同學們在學校操場中，一條小繩子，你一來我一往的翻過不停；小時候快樂的片段，經時間的過濾餘下一種不具體的感覺，但好像依然熟悉。就此我編了一條又一條的繩子。繩子輕巧得可隨身攜帶，是個帶着無限可能性待你發掘的東西。它回應身體的動能，可幻變出不同的形態。用它找伴兒們玩翻線遊戲，有需要時可結綁物件，想冒險一點的話甚至可以把你的世界綁起來 (Sandback, 1989)。 它可記下你定義出的不同空間，更可以是母子間互動交流的題材。
手作的過程引證我的能力。我的作品是我的努力成果，因而今我愛上手工勞作。正如小兒吹一口氣、動一下指頭，把自身微弱的能力傳移成動能，把物件變動，從而看見到經過努力，自己的能力，便可改變世界，因相信自己而快樂。我和小兒在一同參與遊戲時，身體力行，互相啟發、溝通 (Winnicott, 1971)。我們一起玩，一起成長，一起發現新事物。他如同清風吹醒了我，帶我回到本已忘掉了的童年，過我第二個人生，重新發現以住未留意的小事小物，令我對生活多了一層的體會。
Works Cited
吳幸玲，郭靜晃. (2003). 兒童遊戲 Play Early Childhood Development 遊戲發展的理論與實務. 台北: 揚智文化.
Collins, J. (2007). Sculpture Today. Phaidon Press.
Gombrich, E. H. (1995). The Story of Art. Phaidon Press.
Hopper, P. (2003). Rebuilding Communities in an Age of Individualism. Hamshire: Ashgate.
Miles, M., Hall, T., & Borden, I. (Eds.). (2000). The City Cultures Reader. London: Routledge.
Sandback, F. (1989). Children Guide to Seeing. Houston: Contemporary Arts Museum.
Winnicott, D. W. (1971). Playing and Reality. Middlesex: Penguin.
“Mothering” series, at Dear Reader Exhibition, 2016
“Mothering” series, at Toy Exhibition, 2016
“Mothering” series, at Deep Silence Exhibition, 2017
“Mothering” series, at Pearl and Beyond Exhibition, 2019
