Product Description
The book ‘Hello Future Fellow” is made by the three queer artists who live in Manila, NY, Tokyo. They collaborated to show the work of shifting positions to each other. This project was brought about by a sense of trust among the three artists, who felt that they had something in common that could not be expressed in words, as they are all queer artists who are prone to situations that make them think about their own existence, social issues, and expression, and so on.
It's what you might call a book building project. 'Hello Future Fellow' Manabe called it the Queer Construct. Tiu jumped forward from behind the viewfinder, and Felize went from drawing to capturing. Manabe worked as book making. They enjoyed trying different roles than usual. continued to question the sense of incongruity between the here and now of reality and the norm, which has the fluidity and convertibility of things that are not at the single center (decentralized), and does not become a unique norm. It is a collection of things that continue. The artists found common ground and trust in each other. And, inspired by each other, created a book as a physical summon, the images into the real world.
The building, the book, was built with the idea on how to create a safe space physically. It is a printed matter that repeated trial and error of how to distribute the three colors using a Risography rotary press, to get a result has a simple structure and also has an old style.
Images are fragmented, individual pieces that pass through the palms of our hands without quite grasping their cohesion. The book, which is conceived as an architecture set up as a chain representation of the queer continuum, aims to be a space in which attention is paid to the multilayered forces of the project. 'Hello Future Fellow' is a warm welcome and greeting to our future reader who is experiencing the same circumstances.
The title "Hello Future Fellow" is also a continuum from a zine and project produced by Pau Tiu called "Future Fellow" printed in all blue. Manabe and Tiu met at the Tokyo Art Book Fair last 2022, and this project started running when Manabe photographed Tiu who mentioned a group of photographs taken by Felize. To be able to retain an interest in each other's work, to explore the possibility of creating something together (exploring the ongoing future), and to cherish the rare opportunity - then, this book was born.
Pau Tiu, who was the subject of the exhibition, a transgender queer artist, is also a director. In their on-going journey of transitioning, the art of dancing became a freeing self-expression of themself. Confined inside a female’s body, the artist has gone through the experience of disconnection and contradiction with their own image. Pau Tiu’s story and dance can be read through their movements, which entitled ‘At home with my body’, Tiu wanted to show their journey of wanting to break free from physical barriers enveloping their totality by creating intentional movements that felt a strong liberation untethered to reality, to their body and to their gender from what a binary society we are accustomed with. It became about the desire to be what moves in front of the viewfinder, rather than what is seen through the lens. The moves that arose from this impulse are what gave birth to these movements.
Felize Camille works as an illustrator. In her own private time, as a close presence of Tiu, Felize is dedicated to documenting intimate moments of inspiration together. The iPhone can be the perfect camera for capturing what is in the moment, in the candid place today. The interaction between these two people shows a series of trust and reflection of each other that occur on a daily basis. In this book, Felize documented the fragile transitioning vessel (body) of Tiu, a non-binary transitioning queer artist through its movement and what this body went through, the hardship of being accepted; emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually to be able to produce beautiful movements. It is a documentation of seeing the act of courage to feel seen and validated in a society that invalidates the existence of being queer and presence of a transitioning person, while producing a tangible imprint of their history in the eyes of Felize as lovers.
Yuri Manabe, a photographer, was charged in making prints by plate making, which is unique and essential for risograph printing, based on editing and printing, rather than as a photographer. Manabe, who had been thinking about the foundation and background of what emerges as expression, considered the process of "putting into the plate" of risograph, which requires the creation of a "plate" that can be called the foundation of printing, to be very important. The print and binding process is based on the theme of the possibility of transformation of viewpoints, positions and responses, and the continuity of sentiments and actions that each of us can evoke. In a conversation with the Berlin-based art duo Jay Chun and Takeki Maeda (J&Q), who worked on "the scrapbook" 2017 artist book. Manabe was impressed by Maeda's comment that "the book is architecture," and thought about the process of printing and "making a book" from the photographs entrusted by Tiu and Felize setting them up in space, as well as about the process of working together, bringing the work to fruition, and doing recursive work.
Pau Tiu is a Trans Non-binary Visual Artist, Designer, & Printmaker from the Philippines. They are the Co-founder and Studio Director of Bad Student, a Risograph Art Press in the Philippines. Pau Tiu is also an award-winning Creative Director for their work in Visual Identity Design. They have notable collaborations with Adidas, Apple, Nike, Shake Shack, Unicef, Uniqlo, and Vans.
Felize Camille is a multidisciplinary artist, illustrator, designer, and art educator. Born and raised in the Philippines, she moved to New York to further expand her calling for community development using art and social design. On the side, she teaches Visual Arts and Graphic Design to underserved communities in New York and Manila while helping design for non-profit organizations.
Yuri Manabe is a photographer, organizer, living in Tokyo and sometimes in Berlin. Self-taught artist. she has held exhibitions such as “Yasei no Shikou”, "Faster than Light/boys love/Cyborg fe", and produced a dialogue project between Judith Butler and Akiko Shimizu.
