After every war
someone has to clean up
Things won't
straighten themselves up, after all.
…
Those who knew
what was going on here
must make way for
those who know little.
And less than little.
And finally as little as nothing.
In the grass that I have overgrown
causes and effects,
someone must be stretched out
blade of grass in his mouth
gazing at the clouds.
A tragic sense of life and family ties in the poetry “The End and the Beginning” by Nobel prize-winning Polish poetess Wislawa Szymborska (1923-2012), connects with local artist Sandy Leong and inspired her current exhibition “Here It Is” at the Macao Theatre Library.
“This poem is all about how people suffer from war. I’m touched when I read it. My whole family experienced the Cultural Revolution. The emotional turmoil is what links us together. That’s why we moved to Macau for peace and a new life,” says Leong.
The exhibition is a dialogue of three generations: daughter, mother and grandmother. One of the exhibits is her mother’s work in commemoration of her grandmother, who was, at the time, violently criticised and denounced publicly for her only wrongdoing: being too beautiful.
“People hated my grandma so they shaved her hair off and made her a cross-shaped hairstyle in order to shame her. That’s what my mum still remembers clearly 50 years after the Revolution,” Leong continues. “So my mum made a sculpture with a hair embroidery in the middle to express her love for her mother, as well as to heal her emotional wounds and scars.”
Together with her mother, the artist explores the trauma that can be traced over three generations of her family through their artworks.
“We read the poem together, a poem that bridges the gap of time allowing us to walk closer and read the textures that haven’t been lost in the gap of time,” she says.
“This is a wonderful experience: to be able to share and live a similar age with the person who gave birth to me, where I can connect not only with my own life, but also with impressions from a bygone era and faraway memories,” Leong says.
Visitors to the exhibit are also able to glimpse at the memories from Leong’s own poetry “My Mother Told Me”.
“That’s a time when food-rationing coupons were used.”
“After returning home from school, I must first drag for paper pulp from the pond, then herd the chickens and ducks.”
“During the menstrual period, I would hang a plastic sanitary belt around my waist, attaching to it layers and layers of hand-grinded paper.”
“At the time we were discriminated for our bad ‘family capitalist background’ and, since schools did not run formal courses, nearly all my education came from self-study through novel reading.”
…
“I was about 12 years old back then. Almost every day I saw corpses floating down-stream; at that time our country was absolutely chaotic.”
Opening Hours:
Mon, Thu, Fri: 16:00 – 18:30
Sat, Sun: 12:30-18:30
Off on Tue & Wed
Venue: Macao Theatre Library
The 2nd floor, no. 47, Rua de Coelho do Armaral, Macao
Daily till August 17