art of simplicity: 幾米/jimmy liao

one morning as usual, i was browsing through the newspapers and saw an advertisement by the national arts council, featuring the writers for the singapore writers festival (swf) 2012. i did not take much notice and continue flipping through, until i recall a familiar face. i flipped back to the advertisement to confirm. oh my gosh! my favorite taiwanese illustrator, 幾米 was among the writers featured to speak at the swf 2012! i always enjoyed his illustrations and bought a number of his illustration books. he would be speaking at 2 swf events on 10 and 11 november 2012. i must get the swf ticket!

i waited for the fateful day to come, bringing along a few of my favorite illustration books for his autographs. i arrived early at the event hall and while walking to the washroom, i saw 幾米 sitting alongside the walkway with his assistant. wow wow wow! i saw him so up close in person! when i came out of the washroom, his readers were surrounding him, requesting for his autographs and taking photos with him. when he was about to leave for the event hall, i grabbed the chance to ask for a photo with him. he acceded to my request and the event host kindly helped to take the photo. i thanked both of them and we went into the event hall. ahhhhh!!! never imagined that i would have a photo with 幾米!!!

this session was themed “finding the child in me”. the 3 children book authors, including 幾米, shared about how they retained their childlike innocence through observations and interactions with children, gaining inspirations for their creative works. although i was unfamiliar with the other 2 children book authors, i enjoyed their stories nonetheless.

the next day was the “meet the author” session, solely by 幾米. the event hall was so crowded with people that many ended up sitting on the carpet or standing around. this was definitely a rare occasion for his readers to meet him. the session began with a short animated film, adapted from his first illustration book, 微笑的鱼. after a brief introduction by the host, 幾米 came on stage with loud applause from the audience. he shared about how he started his illustrating work and what led him to publish his illustration books. he was naturally shy yet proud of his own works. the audience was amused by his stories and laughing away. the climax of the session was when he began reciting his latest illustration book, 时光电影院. this illustration book was his way of paying tribute to movies. the event hall became silent as he recited with his gentle and compassionate voice. everyone was listening attentively and following the illustrations projected on the big screen. somehow, he could draw the audience into his story, as if we were part of the story, feeling what the characters were feeling. the audience gave a big round of applause when he finished. we wanted to listen to more. at our request, he recited another illustration book, 星空, dedicated to teenagers, who might feel lost in this big world during their teenage years. he hoped that through this book, they could find comfort and strength to face the ups and downs in life bravely. he was choking with emotions as he read on. 星空 was one of my favorites and i was tearing as i listened. i would not be so emotional if i were to read the book myself. his illustrations and words painted a beautiful story and listening to him made the story even more touching. for a story to touch others, the story must first touch the author. he is one such author. he seemed to understand and touch a small part of our inner worlds through his illustrations.

i did an act of courage during the questions and answers segment. my heart was thumping hard when i stood up to ask him whether there would be a possibility to bring the exhibitions based on his illustrations into singapore. he answered, not likely, mainly due to the big scale of logistics and constraints of funding and manpower. i was wishfully thinking that if i became successful and wealthy one day, i could accomplish that, letting more people see and appreciate his works. then again, i could just fly over to taiwan to see the exhibitions! hahaha!

i managed to get his autographs on 6 copies of the illustration books that i brought. i planned to give 1 copy each to zhang yi and jada as they liked his illustrations as well. i could not wait to see their expressions when they receive the books! having to meet my favorite illustrator was exhilarating and taking a photo with him was definitely a big big big bonus! another item crossed on my wish list! yeah!!!

i look forward to more awe-inspiring creations from him! = )