Artists' Books
Yanjie: Combing for Ice and Jade / 顏姐: Combing for Ice and Jade
Description
246 unnumbered pages : color illustrations (some folded), facsimiles. First edition of 700 copies. Combing for Ice and Jade is a love note from Kurt Tong to his nanny, who was one of the last remaining self combed women left in China. An early form of Feminism, the comb up ceremony granted women great autonomy at a great cost. Kurt Tong has worked closely with his nanny over a period of nearly 7 years. Having only 8 photographs of herself, the book is an exploration of her extraordinary life. Her story is slowly revealed through the book, combined with Kurts family archive, found photographs from her extended families, new photographs, and womens magazines from China. Text has several mounted booklets throughout, some are facsimile reprints of Chinese magazines. Front cover and some pages have cutout windows. Designer: Kurt Tong, Yinhe Cheng. In Chinese and English. Loose print, folded and inserted in the middle of the book. Open spine binding, text attached to back cover only. Signed by the author on the title page. Book within book.