Rebecca Chew
Rebecca Chew is a photographer who works as a graphic designer, illustrator, and an art director. While her day job offers a creative outlet, photography and writing are where she expresses her personal self. She is interested in telling stories through the narrative of seemingly ordinary details.
www.photography.rebeccachew.co
Instagram @rebchew
GRANDMA BLUES
In the melancholy shade of Harpic Flushmatic are cyanotypes of my late grandmother's face, burned into paper by the Malaysian sun. It is a countenance I still see in my dreams, the face I wish I could hold on to longer.
My grandmother was a teacher and a home econs queen. This was her Chinese School Teacher's Association membership card.
My grandmother was what the Cantonese call a 'rice bucket' or 飯桶; no meal is complete without rice.
My grandmother married my grandfather in 1953. From her telling, he had more love for the drink and his dogs.
My grandmother in her bridal dress with her best friend/mahjong buddy.
When my grandfather died of a heart attack while waiting for a haircut on November 26 1979, she kept the tearaway calendar to commemorate (celebrate?) his death. His passing, under the headline "Death Comes At a Barber's Chair", made it in two English and Chinese dailies.