Minnan Exit - Wen-You Cai
New York–based artist Wen-You Cai (born 1989) is the founder of Special Special and the author of When You Make No Art, a memoir about growing up with her father, artist Cai Guo-Qiang. Since 2015, Wen-You Cai has returned multiple times to her parents' hometown of Quanzhou, Fujian, to attend the funerals of relatives. The ceremonies in the Minnan region unfold like grand dramas in which she is both an observer and a participant. Throughout the ceremony, Wen-You is enveloped in the unknown; everything seems meticulously arranged. Amid the overwhelming grief of losing loved ones, there exists a feeling of confusion, and taking photographs was a way for her to engage in the funeral process. For this photo series, Wen-You was initially confronted by her own fear of death, intertwined with her bewilderment and curiosity about the complex funeral rituals and their uniqueness inherent to Minnan culture. To demystify these subjects, Wen-You interviewed a funeral director who provides comprehensive “one-stop services,” a monk who hosts Buddhist ceremonies and a folklorist of Minnan rituals. Minnan Exit is at once a family album, a curated collection of photographs, an unfinished journey of discovery and a chronicle of Wen-You's reconciliation with her mortality.
New York–based artist Wen-You Cai (born 1989) is the founder of Special Special and the author of When You Make No Art, a memoir about growing up with her father, artist Cai Guo-Qiang. Since 2015, Wen-You Cai has returned multiple times to her parents' hometown of Quanzhou, Fujian, to attend the funerals of relatives. The ceremonies in the Minnan region unfold like grand dramas in which she is both an observer and a participant. Throughout the ceremony, Wen-You is enveloped in the unknown; everything seems meticulously arranged. Amid the overwhelming grief of losing loved ones, there exists a feeling of confusion, and taking photographs was a way for her to engage in the funeral process. For this photo series, Wen-You was initially confronted by her own fear of death, intertwined with her bewilderment and curiosity about the complex funeral rituals and their uniqueness inherent to Minnan culture. To demystify these subjects, Wen-You interviewed a funeral director who provides comprehensive “one-stop services,” a monk who hosts Buddhist ceremonies and a folklorist of Minnan rituals. Minnan Exit is at once a family album, a curated collection of photographs, an unfinished journey of discovery and a chronicle of Wen-You's reconciliation with her mortality.
New York–based artist Wen-You Cai (born 1989) is the founder of Special Special and the author of When You Make No Art, a memoir about growing up with her father, artist Cai Guo-Qiang. Since 2015, Wen-You Cai has returned multiple times to her parents' hometown of Quanzhou, Fujian, to attend the funerals of relatives. The ceremonies in the Minnan region unfold like grand dramas in which she is both an observer and a participant. Throughout the ceremony, Wen-You is enveloped in the unknown; everything seems meticulously arranged. Amid the overwhelming grief of losing loved ones, there exists a feeling of confusion, and taking photographs was a way for her to engage in the funeral process. For this photo series, Wen-You was initially confronted by her own fear of death, intertwined with her bewilderment and curiosity about the complex funeral rituals and their uniqueness inherent to Minnan culture. To demystify these subjects, Wen-You interviewed a funeral director who provides comprehensive “one-stop services,” a monk who hosts Buddhist ceremonies and a folklorist of Minnan rituals. Minnan Exit is at once a family album, a curated collection of photographs, an unfinished journey of discovery and a chronicle of Wen-You's reconciliation with her mortality.
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24,5 x 28,5 cm. 64 pages + printed endpapers. 34 color plates. Offset printed clothbound hardcover. Linen thread bound. Coral headband. Authentic tip-in image on front cover with typography on front cover, spine and back cover in green foil.
ISBN 978–91–88113–62–7
Published in 2023
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Libraryman, founded in 2008 in Stockholm, Sweden by Tony Cederteg, produces and publishes contemporary photobooks by initiating a preserving liaison with artistic perceptions from varied paths. Sans intrusion of prevailing trends, Libraryman embraces its titles as intimate, ageless and prolonged poems—drawing inspiration from concise printed matters, unspoken language and an immense romanticism for the vocation.
Central to the idea of Libraryman is to serve as a complementary hand to the artist’s vision; with unobtrusive design and interwoven tactility this collaborative effort ensures that both the artist and the publisher will never sacrifice their carefully crafted identities.
