A Cantonese Family Archive: Half Wishing, Half Re-Remembering is a personal exploration of my family’s histories across Toishan, Hong Kong and America. The title draws inspiration from Frank Wong’s Forever Chinatown, a series of miniature recreations of San Francisco’s Chinatown interiors. Wong once said, “ All my miniatures are composites. It’s half wishing and half memory. Memories get fuzzy and more beautiful as the years go by.”
I was thrilled to uncover troves of family photographs tucked beneath my maternal grandmother’s bed and in boxes in my paternal grandmother’s kitchen. These albums and documents revealed family secrets, and the quiet performances of family life– the ways gender, love and belonging were etched into vernacular family photos.
Through a blend of documentary and staged scenes drawn from family’s stories and recollections, I reimagine the intimate tensions and tenderness of life in small Hong Kong apartments. This work reflects on the keepers of family histories, who we perform for, and how we continue to honor our families’ pasts through acts of remembering.
