ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
藝術家簡介
YIP Ka Wai Leaf (b. 2003, Hong Kong) graduated from Hong Kong Baptist University with a major in Visual Arts.
She is a visual artist and illustrator whose work translates personal narratives of mental health, familial issues, and introspection into evocative visual scenarios. Drawing from personal diaries, conversations, and fragments of sound or text, her practice transforms emotions and lived experiences into storytelling illustration—blurring the line between autobiography and universal resonance.
HONOURS PROJECT
畢業作品
𠝹開、重組、再縫合
GenSublime Intermedia Award
Pencil on satogami paper
里紙本鉛筆
Size variable
The series Cut, Rearrange, then Suture depicts the first photo of Yip Ka Wai and her grandmother 21 years ago. After being rearranged, the pixelated images become smaller and more abstract, and their original appearance becomes strange and unrecognizable.
Alzheimer’s disease slowly takes away a person’s habits, language, and instincts. Every day, Grandmother asks the same questions repeatedly, speaking in the same tone. As a caregiver, YIP answered like a robot, consuming all her time, energy, patience, and even love. The “grandmother” in YIP's eyes is changing every moment, getting further and further away from the familiar impression. Like the drawing in the frame, the relationship between the two has become blurred and unrecognizable. Once it starts, nothing can ever go back to the way it was before. All memories will fade into blanks, and the familiar “her” will disappear and become a stranger until death.
《𠝹開、重組、再縫合》一系列描繪了葉嘉慧與她祖母的21年前第一張合照。在𠝹開再重組後，被像素化的畫面變得越來越小、越來越抽象，當初的樣貌變得陌生、難以辨認。
阿兹海默症會慢慢奪去人的習慣、言語、本能，每一天祖母都在問重複又重複的問題、用同樣的語氣講完再講。身為祖母的照顧者，她就像機器人般回答，消耗了一切時間、精力、耐性、甚至愛。每天她眼中的「祖母」都在改變，離熟悉的模樣越來越遠，就像框中的畫面一樣，二人之間的關係也變得模糊和面目全非。一旦開始了，一切再也不能回復原狀，再也回不去以前了。到最後，所有回憶將會褪成空白，她熟悉的那個「她」也會消失，變成一個完全陌生的人，直至死亡。
PREVIOUS WORK
過往作品
Zine printed on pearl paper, 2024, 6 x 8.5 x 1 cm
Inspired by "A Messenger – Passerby in Our Battlefields" by Lo Lai Lai which talks about immigration. The title of my zine is “The Grass is always greener on the other side.”. It presents the concept of over-prettifying something that we don’t have and ignoring the things that we have. To illustrate, people staying in HK may have an impression about moving to the UK, thinking that moving place will make everything better and all difficulties gone. They may be correct, but sometimes it doesn’t depend on the place, it depends on the person themselves. New things will bring out new challenges, I want to bring out the message of stopping over-prettifying the things we don’t have and trying to focus on our own and appreciate ourselves. Therefore, in my zine, I use the accordion binding method, which can present both sides of images together. One illustrates daily life in HK, and another is about life in the UK. They are all common and ordinary life, a bit different but similar. I want the audience to compare the two sides and see there's no big difference between them. People don't have to over-pretify what they don't experience or have. All is the same, essentially.
Risograph zine (printed in CMY Riso color), 2023, A5 8 pages with 8 types of airplane tickets printed in blue and purple version.
By using risograph printing, I drew those joyful experiences and memories living in Scotland Edinburgh in 2023 summer time. I also recreated those illustrations into 8 types of airplane tickets and gave them to classmates. It shared the joy of traveling to others.
Illustration on procreate
‘Use self-punishment to reduce numbness and dissociation. Replace the pain in your heart with physical pain. Use physical pain to relieve yourself.