473 x 614 mm | 56pages | hardcover
First edition of 300 (signed & numbered)
Publisher: Jiazazhi
作家リー・ラン(黎朗)は2013年に82歳の父親を亡くした。タイトル「30219」はその父親が生きた日数、30219日からきている。
葬式が執りしきられ、また墓石に父親の名前、誕生日、命日が刻まれる。それは一般的なことである。またリーの父親の人生は、ドラマチックなことが起きたようなものでもなかった。これはこの世の中において、本当に一般的な、よくある出来事のひとつかもしれない。しかしながら、リーにとっては大切な出来事であり、ひとつひとつを噛み締めるように、父親の死に向き合う作業が必要だった。
リーは、父親の人生を再構築するかのように、父親の誕生日や命日を書き記し続け、また遺品を撮影した。記憶と愛情が消えていくような時間に争いながらその作業を続けたのだ。
本書は、その記録を残した１冊になり、まるで本そのものが"人"であるような存在感がある。リーはものこの世の中にはいない父親という存在をを本というかたちで残したのだ。
黎朗（Li Lang / リー・ラン）
1969年中国・成都生まれ、成都在住。1990年代後半から写真を中心に活動している。代表作の「彝人」シリーズ（彝人=四川省の山岳民族イ族の人々）は、米国The Mother Jones Medal of Excellence （1999年）をはじめ、さまざまな賞を受賞。中国国内外の多くの美術機関で展示され、サンフランシスコ近代美術館、上海美術館、スペイン・バレンシア近代美術館、広東省美術館など、多くの重要な美術館や個人コレクションに収蔵されている。
=
30219 days
My father’s burial held before Qingming after his death. The black tombstone engraved with his name, birthday, and deathday, sure as well as a hyphen between these two dates and the names of the whole family.
Staring at the simple-look hyphen, I cannot help wondering how many days father had lived, and how many days a man could live in this world. Is brief punctuation able to represent one’s whole life? These questions seem easy and boring, but no one can give a specific answer. A Lot of people care little about it. As for those who are still living, they hardly have time to consider this question. As for those who are dead, no one would be concerned about them because they had left the world forever.
My father had lived for 30219 days. Yes, through a clumsy method, I got this tedious answer, because I care a lot! Not only is every single day father had lived vital to him, but also me, though father might disagree.
I am not willing to merely engrave on my father’s tombstone with birthday and deathday, connected by a tiny hyphen to summarize one’s pale life, just like many others did. Also, I understand these two particular dates would be forgotten by us with time going by. I want to wipe the short hyphen out from the tombstone and restore the days’ father lived in the world. Guided by this conception, I started my long-period writing work.
Each of the dates, consisting of eight figures, is repeatedly written line by line on the photographs of the father’s body and heritages. Writing days and nights, the process is slow, through which I hope to construct and present the time father had existed to satisfy my fictional illusion and to write his life thoroughly.
The process of writing brought me back to the time when my father was still alive and helped me memorize and imagine those old days. My memories about father gradually transform from blur to clear, as if the last day in my father’s life was precisely taking place yesterday.
I would say the life father had led very ordinarily. He was a person who could be neglected entirely in the world. His death was as normal as any others, which people would forget soon. Nevertheless, I have been attempting to resist this sort of oblivion through my way for a long time, fighting the time weakening my memories and love.
2013.9.6
Guangzhou
By Li Lang