Ma Fan/麻煩 Cafe (茶煲咖啡/Trouble Cafe) is a text based piece inspired by the many menus seen in Hong Kong style cafes, prevalent in the Richmond cultural landscape. Rather than the usual translations of the menu items, they are instead transliterated from Cantonese to English and visa versa. Transliteration is the conversion of a text from one script to another. This type of linguistic appropriation has been used between English and Chinese speakers since the late 17th century when British traders came to Canton to buy Chinese tea and porcelain; notable food related examples would be ‘Chop Suey’ (雜碎) in English or ‘多士’ (toast) in Cantonese.
The structure of this piece follows that of a restaurant menu, with the first panel representing the cover page; the second and third being the formal menu, and the last being the back cover. On the first panel is the title of the piece and the ‘name’ of the fictional restaurant; it is corralled by two graphics of a hand holding an amalgamation of chopsticks and spoons as a parody to the cliparts often seen in restaurant menus. The imagery used is meant as a light hearted representation of inhabiting Eastern and Western cultures, and the title is meant to be used as a key to decrypting the rest of the menu. The second panel (first menu), the Cantonese translation of the dishes are provided with the English being the transliteration counterpart (And vise versa on the third panel). The final panel concludes with the graphic, duplicated multiple times, arranged to resemble that of a flock of migrating birds.
Ma Fan/麻煩 Cafe (茶煲咖啡/Trouble Cafe) seeks to explore the identity of the second generation immigrant through the combination of food and language. Besides being prevailing landmarks of the Richmond cultural fabric, I chose to use the menus of Hong Kong style cafes because the food they serve are often a hybrid of western and asian (more specifically hong kong chinese) tastes.It represents a breaking down of cultural barriers through cuisine; a fundamental understanding of one another without nuances or minutias. Conversely, language can be both precise and vague; something poorly translated can lead to hilarity and or misunderstandings. Transliteration on the other hand is direct and eliminates these potential confusions as it deals purely with the phonetics of the words. Meaning is no longer lost in translation as it is not at all translated, yet it is inherently meaningless without its original counterpart. It is this internal and structural conflict between translation and transliteration that I want to use to examine the fragmentation of identity experienced by second generation immigrants and the (in)ability to consolidate the two worlds they inhabit. The only way to truly understand this menu is to understand both languages. Through this project, I intend to bring attention to the importance of cultural cohabitation and the growing chasm between the English-speaking and the Chinese-speaking communities within Richmond.