Sik Zyu Soeng Food and Living｜Ying Ji's Comics Exhibition Introduction

Hong Kong Cantonese is famous for its vigor and boldness, and its sentences are expressive. And have you noticed that many of the daily slang and sayings of Hong Kong people are inseparable from "food"! "Eating and living", "Eating lemons", "Eating more rice", "Eating on the same table and practicing separately"... Many slang expressions describe lively life scenes related to food, and have evolved new meanings that are playful. It is not difficult to appreciate them The vibrant side of Hong Kong's humanistic outlook.

Fascinated by the intertwined cultural tension of language, food, and humanistic life, Ouyang Yingji, a senior Hong Kong cartoonist, writer, and food culture researcher, used a single hand-drawn cartoon, and creatively marked Hong Kong Cantonese pinyin and tones of slang. "Sik Jue Soeng - Food and Living - Ying Ji's Manga Exhibition" will exhibit 36 works created by Ouyang Yingji for this purpose.

In addition, this exhibition invited architect Anthony Ko to design the exhibition; and collaborated with musician Erikson Ting to create a sound work related to "food slang", bringing a unique touch to the exhibition experience humanistic color.

During the exhibition, a series of lectures and guided tours on slang, food culture, and urban aesthetics will be held.

The exhibition "Sik Zyu Soeng Food and Housing - Ying Ji's Comics Exhibition" is sponsored by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, and the co-organizer is Hong Kong PMQ Yuanchuang Taste Library.

Cross-media creation of hand-painted comics X language X food culture

Cantonese has undergone thousands of years of integration and change of languages of various ethnic groups in Lingnan. It not only retains the pronunciation and usage of ancient Chinese, but also combines the meaning of Western civilization. Many of the slang and colloquialisms used in daily life today may sound vulgar, but they are actually elegant sayings with provenance.

Hong Kong food is also similar to Hong Kong Cantonese, inheriting the essence of Cantonese cuisine from all over the Lingnan area, but also inclusive, accepting the baptism of foreign cultures, constantly innovating and changing, and forming a unique cross-regional food culture system.

Ouyang Yingji, a senior Hong Kong cartoonist, writer, and food culture researcher, has been very interested in Hong Kong Cantonese slang and idioms related to daily food and living situations for many years. In 2023, he launched a personal food language and culture archive project "Sik Zi Gei 食自我"; 36 pieces of works published in the first stage were exhibited in "Sik Zyu Soeng Food and Living - Ying Ji's Food Comic Exhibition".

This time, hundreds of slang sentences, the allusions behind them and the evolution of the meaning of the words have been sorted out, and the language is vividly displayed on the paper in the form of a single hand-painted cartoon; the Hong Kong Cantonese pinyin of the colloquial sayings is also creatively marked to create a dynamic and rhyme-filled picture .

In addition, this exhibition invited architect Anthony Ko to design the exhibition. In the three collection space units of the PMQ Taste Library, wooden ladders were refitted as the frame of the painting, echoing the exhibition title "Food and Housing" , displays works of different themes in each space.

"Tell Hong Kong Stories" Au-Yeung Ying-chi collaborates with musicians for the first time to create a sound installation

When curating the exhibition, Ouyang Yingji invited several non-locals living in Hong Kong to "learn" these slang words, and collaborated with musician Erikson Ting to re-arrange these voices with different backgrounds and accents.

In addition to being able to hear the different accents of the people who live together in this city, in the last part, the musicians were inspired by the Cantonese opera "Banghuang" (referring to singing without a fixed melody), re-arranging the vocals, and Accompanied by Chinese and Western music, the Hong Kong slang is deconstructed and presented in an experimental and unique way.

Language, Hong Kong, Culture and Aesthetics on the Tip of the Tongue: Public Events

During the exhibition, a series of lectures and workshops will be held to take you through the language arts of Hong Kong Cantonese, as well as the art, city, aesthetics and customs of Hong Kong food culture.

For details, please pay attention to the social platform of Taste Library.

Exhibition Details

• SSik Zyu Soeng Food and Living｜Ying Ji's Comics Exhibition
• Date: March 14-April 11, 2023
• Time: 11:00-18:00 (closed every Monday)
• Venue: PMQ Taste Library
• Address: H504, 5th Floor, Block B, 35 Aberdeen Street, Central, Hong Kong

Source of above information: PR