Succour for the Spirit – Issue 8
Sunday Reading with designer
Carolyn Ang
Talking about the beautiful southern island of Aotearoa / New Zealand, 2020 headlines, the ‘Modern Love Podcast’, designing for Silent Dialogue, & more.
“I strive to work on projects that are good for the soul. I worry about the state of the world a lot and my goal is to engage with people and projects that want to better it. Mostly, I want the future generation of kids to feel like this current group of adults did enough. ”
In Conversation
with
Carolyn Ang (CA) & correspondences’ Emma Thomson (ET)
Nature, food or art?
Nature
Snowy mountains, forests & coastlines in Aotearoa / New Zealand. Photos by Carolyn Ang
All-time favourite place
CA—This is an answer that I surprised myself with! It’s the countryside of Aotearoa / New Zealand, specifically down South. I had a long hard think and a lengthy debate with my partner about, which of all the incredible places I’ve been to, I would call my favourite – I didn’t think I would choose home.
Cruising through the windy roads of the South Island in my partner’s beat up 1992 Nissan Sentra, blasting tunes on a crackly radio, getting to see every bit of terrain imaginable from snowy mountains to forests to coastlines, there really is no other experience like it. It’s the one thing I say that everyone has to do when they visit Aotearoa / New Zealand, you have to drive through the South.
Favourite place near home?
Carolyn’s morning walk up the hill in High Wycombe.
Photo by Carolyn Ang
Carolyn’s yoga spot in the park, High Wycombe. Photo by Carolyn Ang
CA—Home at the moment is High Wycombe, a small town in the UK chosen out of convenience for my partner and my commute.* I didn’t think I would find a favourite place near home, convinced that I would spend all of my time exploring London. But these days, I find solace at the park near our flat.
The park is where I run, do yoga, read and picnic. There is also a gorgeous little hill walk nearby that I try to do most mornings, weather pending. It’s an interesting spot, it’s surrounded by subdivisions and the entrance is right by a main road. But once you start walking up the hill, you’re surrounded by tall trees, beautifully dappled light, you hear nothing but the sound of your own footsteps and you forget that the buildings around exist at all.
It’s the slice of isolation that I’ve actually enjoyed in isolation.
*Now non-existent due to the current pandemic.
Place you’re dreaming of going
CA—Where do I start? The list is never-ending but truly the place I’ve been dreaming of going to lately is Malaysia. I’m cheating a little bit because I was born there but I haven’t visited in almost a decade and I would love to experience it as an adult that now enjoys spicy food.
ET—Readers, fancy cooking Poh's Malaysian Nyonya Chicken Curry & Roti Canai?
What are you making?
Theo, one plant of many in Carolyn’s flat.
Photo by Carolyn Ang
CA—I’ve ordered a little ceramics kit to make some pots for a couple of my plants, they’ve been thriving and are in need of new homes. I’m also in the process of starting a new personal project – a book collecting daily headlines throughout 2020. It’s been such a tumultuous and crazy eventful year even pre-pandemic and I think it’s a year for the archives.
Inspiration for Carolyn’s upcoming project. Photo by James Eade.
What are you listening to lately?
CA—Spotify says I’ve had Thelma Plum, Carly Rae-Jepsen, Fleetwood Mac, Childish Gambino and HONNE on repeat.
I’ve also been obsessed with the podcasts ‘Modern Love Podcast’ by the New York Times and Esther Perel’s ‘Where Should We Begin?’. Both are about love and relationships, a topic that has endlessly fascinated me because it’s a universal experience that can be so individual. But, also I am just nosey.
An episode I’ve enjoyed lately from Modern Love has been Why Can’t Men Say “I Love You” to Each Other? It focuses on the rigid expectations of manhood and the suppression of male tenderness and vulnerability. It’s so poignant and it’s a must-listen for men and women alike.
ET—Listen in to Modern Love via the hyperlinks above. To listen to Carolyn’s list of musicians above, head to our ‘Succour for the Spirit’ playlist on Soundcloud via the button below.
Tell us about one of your creations
Concepts of the Silent Dialogue exhibition catalogue by Carolyn Ang
What is the title of the work & when was it made?
CA—This is the exhibition catalogue for Silent Dialogue, a project that most readers here might be familiar with! It’s currently a work in progress that you can support by pre-purchasing the book.
Why did you choose this particular work?
CA—Silent Dialogue is an exhibition about the migration and the search for a sense of belonging in an ‘otherland’, this is something that I’m intimately familiar with. I was only seven when my family decided to move from Malaysia to Aotearoa / New Zealand and that’s where I spent the majority of my formative years. Being so young made the transition for me a lot easier – my memories of Malaysia are quite minimal and my ties to it as a ‘home’ is limited.
But, while the transition from one place to another was easier. Home is still something that I’ve struggled with articulating for years. I think this stems from constantly being asked where I’m from and finding that I don’t really have the answer myself. If I’m in Aotearoa / New Zealand, I get asked where I’m from. When I visit Malaysia, because of the Kiwi accent*, I’m asked where I am from. Rinse and repeat with Australia and the UK. Having moved four times now, I find that location means less and less to me, and the concept home is more about the people that I surround myself with.
This project has meant a lot, it’s allowed me to connect with my heritage, something I haven’t always been comfortable with doing.
*Apparently the accent is more Aussie these days.
What were you striving to explore?
CA—I have been experimenting with typography, this is my first time working on a multilingual book! I really want to embrace that aspect and so the layout and design of the book mirrors the experience of a multilingual person and how they interact with language.
I want to ensure that the design enables the readers to gain a better understanding of what exactly immigrants who have to learn a new language go through on a daily basis. Hopefully they walk away from this with a greater appreciation of just how hard it can be to communicate and to be kinder to those who don’t speak perfect English.
What are you working on right now?
CA—Well there’s the aforementioned book archiving 2020. Some friends and I are trying to get a children’s book series about changing the world published. Emma and I have also been collaborating on Thinking about Immortality & Kindness which has been a pleasure! The Online Viewing Room launches soon. I like keeping busy and I’m always open to working on new and exciting projects/collaborations.
ET—It has been our pleasure working with Carolyn! She has also been collaborating with us on the pre-planning for another special project that embraces the family art of cooking. More news to follow.
What else can supporters do?
Pre-purchase our book for Silent Dialogue → here. Featuring Carolyn’s beautiful design and twelve original pieces of writing by some of the country's finest writers, alongside beautiful imagery from our participating visual artists, it is going to be special.
To follow Carolyn’s work and reach out to her, head to her beautiful website at carolynang.com.
Share our news via social media at i: silent_dialogue & f: silentdialogueevents. It introduces us to new supporters!
Biography
Book designer Carolyn Ang is a multi-disciplinary designer specialising in editorial design and publishing, brand identities and art direction. Having a love for typography, photography and a minimalist simplicity, she takes a purposeful approach to craft considered design solutions—always with a focus on strategy and being content and concept driven. Ang was the enormously talented design creative behind the most recent edition of Going Down Swinging, to name but one of her recent projects. Her website provides an overview of this and other examples of her work including the Matters Journal (2019), which was awarded a Merit at the AGDA Design Awards.
