Me, standing proudly beside some of my art: clockwise, l to r, the first page of "Alchemy Hour", four pages of my residential work-in-progress "Natural Desire", a page from "Escape Behaviours" and one from "Orcus" (the full comic of "Orcus" can be read in the latest issue of Funtime Comics Anthology).
I just got back from Taiwan, where I participated in the second half of the NZ Book Council's Graphic Novelist Exchange Residency in association with the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) and the Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE).
"Warkworth" from "Escape Behaviours", my epic graphic poem about marriage, migration and stuttering.
There's so much I want to tell you about - too much for one post - so I'll talk about the
graphic novelists' exhibition today, then (because I still haven't finished posting about the first half of the residency, that happened back in
October) I'll try to zoom through the whole residency and get up to
speed with current events in the next few posts and post more about the book fair after that - I can't believe it's
almost March already!
Muriwai Ihakara
New Zealand was the 2015 Guest of Honour at the Taipei International Book Exhibition, which opened with a blessing given by Muriwai Ihakara.
Ant Sang, Tim Gibson, 61 Chi, Ahn Zhe, Sean Chuang and I were lucky enough to have works selected for exhibition and luckier still to be given such a spacious exhibition arena, right by the busy manga section of the TIBE main hall.
Ant Sang, with his awesome art: pages from "Shaolin Burning" and work-in-progress from the residency.
It was the best feeling in the world to see my work blown
up so huge and people taking their time to really look closely at it.
61 Chi's art.
Information about the residential exchange and the artists' village, where we stayed for the residential part of our time in Taipei.
More people looking at my work!
Because I had submitted the most work-in-progress, I was very generously given eight stands to display it and was thrilled to see it all presented so beautifully - and so big!
Had I known my photo would be enlarged to this size, well...hindsight, eh?
All the art looked amazing and it was especially touching to see it displayed with photographs taken during the residential exchange, both from Auckland and Taipei.
Tim Gibson's work and photographs from the residency.
Tim Gibson, at the blessing.
Photographs from the residential exchange.
Sean Chuang's art.
Ahn Zhe's art.
People who liked Rae's work also liked Ahn Zhe's work - 'cause it's poetry, innit?
My sincere gratitude to PANZ and the NZ Book Council for selecting me to participate in the Residential Exchange and the TIBE, and to their staff and Dala Publishing's staff in Taipei, who worked tirelessly to make the event a great success. Thank you.
Happy Chinese New Year!
