All Talk

Drawing inspiration from Edward Ruscha's Every Building On the Sunset Strip, this artist book accentuates a transcribed dialogue between my father and me on a late car ride home. He frequently takes me home late at night after my visits. The course of the conversation is illuminated through exaggerated typography, intending to convey the emotions of the exchange solely through a single typeface.

As someone who speaks Cantonese as a second language, I've observed the decline of this language, which is becoming less prevalent in the United States and native Cantonese-speaking countries over time. This project also served as a personal endeavor to practice Cantonese, emphasizing the significance of communication across generational gaps. The progression of the conversation is portrayed akin to Ruscha's artist book, following a linear storyline that mirrors the flow of the car ride. 5.5” x 7” on 60lb toned paper.

你部車?
Oh your car?

你鍾唔鍾意揸車呀傾開揸車嘅嘢
We started talking on the subject of cars

跟住佢講話
Then he said that

嘩我以前得閒都有做的士司機個喎
When I had free time in the past, I would take up taxi driving.

但係. 你… 你諗嚇.
When… you think about it

佢自己都讀到書啦係咪?
He was able to acquire a good education right?

有 qualifications 同埋都叫讀書嘅人
He has qualifications and is considered someone of intelligence

點解會嘗試做唔同嘅嘢
But why is he trying to try all these different things? (Asking why he’s doing things lower than his standards)

你明唔明
You get it?

Mhm mhm.

跟住亞仔咪- 亞細佬咪好鍾意打網球嘅
You know how son- younger brother loves playing volleyball?

叫 v-volleyball? Volleyyball volleyball?

Yeah yeah. Thats right.

OK. 咁亞細佬想打喎
Ok. So Douglas wanted to play

咁佢話哦咁有一日我哋帶
So he said, “oh one day let’s bring the whole team and play together,”

大啲 team 帶啲人一齊打啊. 阿Douglas你係咪去啊?
Bring the whole team, and play together, “Did you want to join, Douglas?,”

原來佢係代表香港呢 represent 香港打比賽㗎.
It turns out he represents Hong Kong for volleyball.

唔係啊嘛!
No way!

真係呀細佬都知呀. 跟住啊細佬-
For real! Even Douglas heard him saying that. Then Douglas-

佢??!
Him?

係呀!
Yes him!!

佢係大腳Team嘅leader嚟㗎
He is the national volleyball team’s leader for Hong Kong.

佢??!
Him?

係呀! 跟住佢改日細佬買對鞋
Yes him! So then Douglas was buying a pair of shoes, right,

啊細佬對鞋好大對, 買對拖鞋
His shoes are big right, he was buying some sandals instead

跟住佢都冇講, 直至到去到場
And then he didn’t say much, like until they got to the court

我話你有冇打呀
I asked Douglas if he played,

我冇打呀, 佢哋好勁啊. 你明唔明
“No I didn’t play, they were at a high level.” You get it?

即係里講, 呢啲人真係- 真係
Like his type of personality,

你真係話佢好 humble?
You’re saying he’s got a humble personality?

好 humble 此外佢唔係好 high profile
Besides being humble, he’s not a very high profile person

哦, 我識啲乜嘢啊, 嘅方面
Like “Oh, what do I know?” And trying to learn more from different aspects

但係佢係好追求佢嘅工
But he is also very passionate about his work.

我知你講乜嘢
I get what you’re saying.

做-做得好實在.
He’s very solid in working.

有啲人喺度 just talk. Talk 就OK. Right? Verbal 就OK. 但係叫佢實質 -實質 handle 啲嘢- oh mhm OK.
Some people are all talk. They’re capable of talking and verbalizing it, but when they’re asked to handle it, it’s suddenly not ok.

但係依個人就調返轉好勁, 你明唔明?
On the other hand, this guy is doing a lot but not verbalizing it.

即係好似睇戲嗰啲人啦
It seems like he’s not real, like an actor.

即係佢好有內涵囉, 即係估唔到
He has a lot of self discipline, but no one would have knew.

我知你講乜嘢
I know what you mean.

英文點講呀,內涵?
How do you say this word in English?

我覺得係 humble.
I think it’s humble.

Humble, OK. 即係好犀利囉, 係我估唔到啊.
Humble? Ok. It’s impressive, like no one would’ve guessed it-

我知你講乜嘢
I know what you mean.

Even 你哋讀書呀, 隻係讀書佢又掂喎
Even like school, he has a good education

跟住出嚟玩Sports— 佢又掂喎.
And even when he does sports, he is good too.

跟住爹哋想同佢講揸車㗎啦, “我以前揸的士呢, 我一日都搵幾多錢, 我有幾部電腦— 電話.”
Then I wanted to talk about cars, he said ,”I used to drive taxis on my free time and I was surprised how much I could make. I even had several monitors- phones.”

Even 佢係搵食, 都係好投入㗎, 你明唔明呀?
Even when he is trying something new, he’s very engaged no matter what.

Uh huh

即係我會覺— oh-真係好犀利咁嘅情況, 真係. 你有啲人去玩嘅-
It makes me think, oh, this guy is so dedicated. Some people want to just play—

佢似好似你哋啲人時候出世咁…好大個
It seems like he was born during a different generation or something.

Ehhh 佢唔係. 起碼細過我好多啦. 我諗起碼細我哋成30年, 佢好後生, 好 young.
Ehhh he’s not. He’s a lot younger than me. He’s like at least 30 years younger, he’s young.

佢大你唔係好多咋. 但係個問題— 係呀, 佢大你唔係好多咋.
He’s not that much older than you.

係咩?
Really?

我Cing Cing 都唔係大你好多咋嘛.
Yeah Cing Cing is not that much older than you.

佢大我好多.
She’s much older than me.

我諗大約10年到啦.
I think she’s about 10 years older only.

10練好耐啫.
10 years is pretty long.

但係-10年唔耐㗎.
But— no, 10 years isn’t too long.

但係佢哋個情況就係, 阿Cing Cing同埋佢個男朋友係好 aggressive.
But the thing is, Cing Cing and him are a very aggressive couple.

佢哋而家會, plan 去, next year right, plan 咗可能會marry, 可能會有個ceremony. Ceremony?
Next year, right, they might be planning to get married and hold a ceremony.

Yeah.

咁可能我同媽咪睇嚇會唔會plan 返去. 如果有時間就一齊返囉
We will plan to see if we can go back and attend.

梗係去啦!…點都會去
I’m definitely going.

點都會去? 睇嚇當其時嘅日子係點囉
Definitely? Well we’ll see what date it is.

但係個問題就係, 佢哋會之後過去澳洲— stay. 到時我哋可以多個choice 哥去澳洲嗰度選擇.
The thing is they might move to another country afterwards. Then we also have the choice to visit them there.

澳洲喺邊度啊?
What is that country in English?

Australia.