不辞而别 Minnan Exit

自2015年起，蔡文悠数次回到她父母的故乡福建泉州，去参加已故亲人的葬礼。闽南的仪式像一出出拉开帘幕的大戏，她是观者，也是参与者。在仪式进行的过程中，文悠被未知笼罩，一切都是既定的安排，沉浸在逝去亲人的悲痛中的同时，一种手足无措之感也穿插期间。拍摄则是她参与葬礼的方式之一。文悠创作这一系列的起点源于她对死亡的恐惧，也掺杂了践行复杂葬礼仪式时的迷思，和对闽南所蕴含的独特性的好奇。为了解决这些困惑，te editions与文悠一同采访了殡葬“一条龙”的师傅、负责超度的僧人以及闽南的民俗学家，种种个体视角与文悠的摄影作品一起构成了关于闽南葬礼的新叙事。《不辞而别》可以有多种解读——一本家庭纪念册，一本摄影集，一段未完成的探索之旅，也是文悠与死亡和解的过程。

Since 2015, Wen-You Cai has returned on multiple occasions to her parents' hometown of Quanzhou, Fujian, to attend the funerals of her deceased relatives. The ceremonies in the Minnan region unfold like grand dramas in which she is both an observer and a participant. Throughout the ceremony, Wen-You is enveloped in the unknown; everything seems meticulously arranged. Amidst the overwhelming grief of losing loved ones, there exists a feeling of confusion, and taking photographs was one of the ways for her to engage in the funeral process. For this photo series, Wen-You was initially confronted by her own fear of death, intertwined with her bewilderment and curiosity about the complex funeral rituals and its uniqueness inherent to Minnan culture. To demystify these subjects, Wen-You, joined by te editions, interviewed a funeral director who provides comprehensive “one-stop services,” a monk who hosts Buddhist ceremonies, and a folklorist of Minnan rituals. Minnan Exit can be interpreted as many things–a family album, a curated collection of photographs, an unfinished journey of discovery, as well as the process of  Wen-You's reconciliation with her mortality. Minnan Exitwas designed by an independent graphic design studio, RELATED DEPARTMENT. Through the artist's lens, the design team sought inspiration from funeral objects and rituals, to create a visual concept for the publication's structure and layout with the regional characteristics of Minnan.