Artists
Photo Credit: NIU Chun-Chiang
Ali Ginger
Ali Ginger
| Location | USA / Santa Fe |
|---|---|
| Residency | Santa Fe Art Institute (SFAI) |
| Year of the Grant | 2019 |
Her work Cindy’s Daily Life has been selected to Hsin-Yi Children's Literature Award Picture Book Judges' Award, The Big Big Pattern won Chen, Guo-Zheng's Children's Literature Picture Story Merit Award, Cycle has been chosen in 2012 Bologna Children's Book Fair, and Face to Face won 3x3 International Illustration Show Merit Award. Important exhibitions include "Everything is Calm" solo exhibition (2014), Bologna Children's Book Fair (2012), and “Jump over a Cloud “solo exhibition (2010.) She has published three books, namely, Face to Face, Sometimes, and Jump over a Cloud.
Artist Statement
In 2017, I published my first illustration book Sometimes. The book shows the silence, peace, fierce, and chaos in the natural environment. Moreover, it also expresses my feeling toward climate change and time flow while living in the mountain for 12 years. Concerning environmental issues and encouraging people to cherish every moment in their lives are my primary missions. Therefore, I kept them as my goals Santa Fe Art Institute (SFAI) and maintained a slow pace to observe the cities and the local activities to broaden my vision. Hopefully, I will get the chance to publish my second illustration book and to hold one more exhibition within one year.
During the residency in 2019, I completed several artworks. I painted unique but storytelling images about the Santa Fe plateau to deliver my natural feeling. By participating in activities in the art residency, I exchanged ideas and thoughts with other artists. For example, I joined the talk time held by the writer Dylan Yates to create improvised graphics and words. In the event held by the Sri Lankan-born Australian artist Varuni K, I stitched up the two pedals of heart-shaped cloth from the middle and drew some images on it. I wrote down blessing words in Chinese, English, and Japanese to console women who lost their loved ones.
SFAI hosts showcases, open studios, and SFAI140 (140 minutes of speech for artists) every month. I had the chance to interact with people from different backgrounds and received many positive comments such as " Your English essay is short and simple though, it is very poetic and playful." Some may even show interest in buying my work. I appreciate all of these comments, and they all gave me great confidence. I also discussed the opportunity to work with musician Grisha Krivchenia and multi-media artist Ehren Kee Natay to develop an illustration book with music. It had become a significant project that I would follow up on after I came back to Taiwan.
I went to the USA at the end of summer, spent time in cool autumn, and came to early winter with light snow. I learned how to greet and hug proactively. Keeping drawing and writing enabled me to recharge my batteries. At the same time, I composed my storylines for my second illustration book. After coming back to Taiwan with a brand new me, all of the residency experiences provided me strength to face the challenge for future creation.