touching what I love: its own history

107 places

A DAILY BLOG FROM 2010 to 2014

people in 107 countries have come to this blog : albania / algeria / argentina / armenia / aruba / australia / austria / bahrain / bangladesh / barbados / belarus / belgium / belize / bosnia and herzegovina / brazil / brunei / bulgaria / cambodia / canada / chile / china / colombia / croatia / cyprus / czech republic / denmark / ecuador / egypt / el salvador / england / fiji / finland / france / georgia / germany / ghana / greece / guatemala / honduras / hong kong / hungary / iceland / india / indonesia / iran / iraq / ireland / isle of man / israel / italy / japan / jordan / kazakhstan / kenya / korea / kuwait / latvia / lebanon / liberia / lithuania / luxembourg / macao / macedonia / malaysia / mauritius / mexico / moldova / mongolia / morocco / myanmar / nepal / netherlands / new zealand / nicaragua / nigeria / norway / pakistan / panama / peru / philippines / poland / portugal / puerto rico / qatar / romania / russia / saudi arabia / senegal / serbia / singapore / slovakia / slovenia / south africa / spain / sri lanka / sweden / switzerland / taiwan / thailand / trinidad and tobago / tunisia / turkey / ukraine / united arab emirates / united states of america / venezuela / vietnam

29 March 2011

its own history

I have always loved construction sites. The smell of dirt, men's exposed muscles, chunky machinery, the unmaking, making, remaking.
Today, poem and essay with Wislawa Szymborska and many artists who work with destruction, construction, reconstruction. I found words from Milan Kundera: 'Art isn't there to be some great mirror registering all of History's ups and downs, variations, endless repetitions. Art is not a village band marching dutifully along at History's heels. It is there to create its own history.'
Photo: Tubing near a construction site, Shandong, China
Text: From a book in progress by my artist-sister, Susanne Slavick

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books by madeleine

my body, my business / oral history with new zealand sex workers / I contributed the photography

fifty stories fifty images / prose and photography of hong kong
delicate access / poems and photographs, with chinese translation by Luo Hui
something beautiful might happen / photography of hong kong by Shimao Shinzo, poetry by me
round - poems and photographs of asia / with Barbara Baker
china voices / non-fiction, with Lot Felizco/ Oxfam
my favourite thing / people say what they love, and why, a book and exhibition I initiated

online writing / images / music

Flash Frontier, NZ /

Sweet Mammalian, NZ /

Words for Christchurch earthquake published by Christchurch City Libraries /

Interview with art4d.asia, Singapore /

North, Prairie Schooner, USA /

One of the Best Places in this Country, photographic essay on USA, in Mascara Literary Review, Australia

Gaza and me published by University of Iowa /
A Cairo Song published by Arabic Nadwah /
From New Zealand - love + horses Tuesday Poem, selected by Tim Jones /
ten poems from Hong Kong published in Writing Macao /
two poems in Chinese published in Poetry Sky, USA /
Four poems from Singapore published in Softblow /
On cricket Mark Pirie's Tingling Catch / Jonny Brugh's The Second Test /
Water - a poem for Robert Logan published in A Fine Line, New Zealand /
The Magpie and the Mirrors book review by Alice Tsay, Cha - An Asian Literary Journal /
Drink long opinions full of violets book review by Bradley Winterton, Taipei Times /
Gems under the Topsoil book review by Cyril Wong, Quarterly Literary Review Singapore /
when he said my poem set to music / Composer: Samson Young / Conductor: Leon Chu / Soprano: Law Yuk Ling / Vibraphone: Louis Siu / Piano: Lam Hoi-cheong / Commissioned by Chinese University Chorus / Sponsored by CASH Music Fund / Premiere 28 March 2009 at Tsuen Wan Concert Hall, Hong Kong / Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNwqkJBYkSA / and the poem was also published in Broadsheet, Issue 7, New New Zealand Poetry

books edited by madeleine

around / soundpocket

Asian Performing Arts / Zuni Icosahedron
Australia Elements / Caroline Bouquet

Away from the Crowd / Jaffa Lam, Yeung Yang

Children in China / Michael Karhausen / Orbis Books, NY
China Voices / Oxfam
Driving Lantau / mccm creations
Foodscape / mccm creations
Grandma Grandpa Cook / mccm creations
Hanzigraphy / Mariko Tanagi / mccm creations

Heritage Continuance King Yin Lei / Development Bureau
Jullay, Ladakh-i / Chan Wai Fong
Kids Alike - A World of Children in Hong Kong / Oxfam

Love in the Time of Dementia

My Favourite Thing / Oxfam
Nathan Road / mccm creations
Of Hearts and Hands / Urban Council, Hong Kong

Of the Film / Christopher Doyle

Oliver The Quiet Firefighter / mccm creations
One Couple Two Cultures / Dan Waters
Our Home Shekkipmei / mccm creations
OutLoud Poetry Anthology / xtraloud press

OutLoud Too / mccm creations

Papa's Forest Bus / mccm creations
Photo Voices - Shenzhen Workers Speak /

Oxfam

Sweet Words / mccm creations
The Possible - 30 Stories / Oxfam

Through Our Eyes -

Vol. I A Photographic View

of Hong Kong by its Youth /

Vol. II My Light / Robert HN

Ho Family Foundation

Thus, Cuba / Chan Wai Fong

Water Wood Pure Splendour / Agnes Lam / Asia 2000

Why I am not a Painter / Christopher Doyle
Wild Men of the Metropolis / Yuen Che Hung

books published by madeleine

With Oxfam (1995-2012), Madeleine edited several books and assisted with publications. In 2005, she initiated the Independent Publishers of Hong Kong, and in 2002, co-founded Sixth Finger Press, a bilingual Chinese-English press. For Sixth Finger, she coordinated book tours throughout Asia, Europe and North America, and events for the Chinese- and English-speaking public in Hong Kong. The press published A Lover's Soliloquy / colo(u)r / The Crocodile who wanted to be Famous / delicate access / and Wings of Summer - Selected Poems of Zheng Danyi.