Haggadah

Ink, paper, personal clothing, steam iron

Year 2021

Size Dimensions variable

Part of Little Albert Joint Exhibition

Many have heard about the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt in the year 1313 BCE.  The stories of Moses and Pharaoh, the ten plagues, and the splitting of the Red Sea are generally familiar to a mass audience.  Jewish people have celebrated the eight-day festival of liberation, Passover, by observing dietary restrictions and retelling the story of the Exodus, as written in the book the “Haggadah”.  This story of the past is recited during the ritual dinners of Passover.  It is an obligation for the Jewish people to pass these stories on from generation to generation.

For me, the Haggadah is an insightful medium designed to reflect upon the larger themes of emancipation and redemption, and more personally, of persecution and freedom.  This work expresses my interpretation and experience of freedom through the manifestation of performing daily chores and routines.

The characters on the red paper are the whole Haggadah in Hebrew, rendered in Chinese Kaishu calligraphy.  I applied heat transfer printing with the red paper onto my clothing items to symbolise the retelling of the story of Exodus. The process and the final work gives a contemporary interpretation of freedom and liberation as manifested by the transforming atmosphere in our home. 

墨、紙、個人衣物、燙斗

年份 2021

大小 不固定

出埃及記中的摩西和法老、十災和紅海分裂的故事廣為大眾熟悉，這些都記載在《哈加達》（Haggadah）一書中。猶太人每年都在為期八天的逾越節，翻開《哈加達》，一代傳一代，重述逃離奴隸制度的故事。

《哈加達》啟發對我對解放和救贖的思考，並探索我們個人對迫害和自由的感覺。我在這作品以日復一日、重複蒸燙個人衣物表達我對自由的詮釋和經驗。

我把整本希伯來語的《哈加達》化為方塊字，以中國書法寫在紅紙上，然後燙到白色衣物上，寓意對出埃及記故事的重述。作品的創作過程恰恰反映了吾鄉不斷變化的氛圍。