GALLERIES
GLOBAL RIGHTS EXCHANGE
FAIRTALES
Pen So Artlab
Hong Kong-China
Text and Illustrations by Pen So
What the jury said:
Featuring two interconnected volumes that come in a single case, the winning project is an example of unique design in terms of both concept and craftsmanship. The first volume is a sketchbook brimming with line drawings of different places and landscapes. The second volume, a comic book of identical size, follows a protagonist who is struggling with amnesia. To reconstruct her story, she has to rely on the sketchbook, containing her impressions of places she has visited and lived in. Blazing an expressive new trail, this innovative, modern and evidential narrative technique celebrates the role of the image as testament; drawing is viewed as breadcrumbs, and books as fragmented maps of humanity’s lost stories. Moreover, it depicts memory as a deliberate yet flawed effort to restore order to things and history, something that is achievable only through literature. This project reaffirms the limitless experimentation potential of illustrated book publishing.
