Kaufu
by Michelle Chan   

 
 
I was never close to Kaufu. My only memory of him was of buses.
 
He passed away in 2019, at age 50. At his flat, I discovered what he left behind – CDs, DVDs, cassette tapes, comic books and a very large collection of bus-related memorabilia. Miniature bus models, books, news-cuttings and photographs of buses filled every corner of his flat and occupied three more mini-storages. I began to obsess about his obsession.
 
Kaufu is a long-term project, a homage to the bus driver uncle I regret never getting to know, and a tribute to his obsession with buses. Through the lens of his personal story, this project portrays the pre-handover's notion of freedom and explores the post-colonial subjectivity of Hong Kong people, currently shifting, and questions the relationship with China now.
 
Part-One collage work is an internal exploration of the meaning of disappearance and loss, and as a form of care towards my uncle’s death. Through physical touches and sensory connections with his belongings, I pieced together archival images and leftover materials of his bus magazines, his own photographs and objects in his collection. The collage work narrates an imagined story of his afterlife, in-between the end life and reincarnation.
 
Michelle Chan lives and works in Hong Kong, China
To view more of Michelle Chan's works, please visit her website.
 

Kaufu

by Michelle Chan

 
 
我從來都不太認識舅父。我對他唯一的印象就是巴士。
 
他於 2019 年去世，享年50歲。在他的家中，我發現了他留下的東西——CD、DVD、盒式磁帶、漫畫書和大量與巴士相關的物品。微型巴士模型、書籍、新聞剪報和巴士照片充斥著他住所的每個角落，並佔據了另外三個迷你儲藏室。我開始迷戀於他對巴士的痴迷。

「舅父」 是一個長期項目，向我後悔從未認識的巴士司機舅父致敬，也是對他對巴士的愛戴和著迷的致敬。該項目通過他個人故事，描繪香港移交前的自由觀念，探索香港人目前正在轉變的後殖民主體性，並質疑現在與中國的關係。

「舅父」第一部的拼貼作品是對消失和死亡的內在探索，也是對我去世舅父的關懷。通過與他的物品的身體接觸和感官聯繫，我將他留下來的巴士雜誌、他拍下的巴士照片、其他物品和舊家庭照片拼湊在一起，並構成一幅幅的拼貼作品，以想像舅父轉世中的故事。