From A Workshop to A Gift
By chance or not by chance, memories about mangos and mango trees were shared by all the participants. Anna drew a 100 years old mango tree, Caroline drew and shared sweet Cebu mango and GBM brought Indian Mangoes to the class while an old mango tree was also drawn in her sketchbook. That was a tree grown next to her grandparents’ house. Therefore, I chose mango and mango trees as the carrier of the participants’ writings. The mango tree leaves are not easily found in urban Hong Kong. There is one next to the Old Wan Chai Post Office, one inside the Hong Kong Park and one in front of the Tai Kwan, former Central Police Station, in Central. At last, I picked the leaves in the Pokfulam Village.
During the process of paper making, I added a bit of the cover of the sketchbooks, which were the physical carrier of their work during classes, so, there are three different types of papers that were made. Paper made by mango skins, paper made by mango tree leaves and paper added with the cover of sketchbooks were created.
I would like to share these handmade gifts with my lovely participants, as they have been using their hands to cook, tidy up and carry heavy housework in Hong Kong for years.
P.S. Special thanks to Ms. Alice Fu, Ms. Ella Wong and Mr. and Mrs Wong from Pokfulam Village so that the handmade gifts can finally be created in a decent way.