Archive 6

Archive
Number 6
2025-02-09
Edited by: LEE KA-SING AND HOLLY LEE ARCHIVE
kasingholly.com kasingholly@gmail.com
Lee Ka-sing is compiling his Polaroid works from the 1980s to 2000s into a comprehensive volume.
Follow the frequently updated book-in-progress edition at:
https://polaroid.leekasing.com

Let me trace your palm lines in the shifting light and shadow of time 讓 我 寫 下 你 掌 紋 在 光 陰 下 的 投 影
Originally created for the invitation card of a 4-person exhibition (1991)
106x146 mm, Polaroid, over printed with a copying machine. In a private collection
In an ancient fable, a tiger resists the lure of
blossoms 在 一 則 遠 古 寓 言 , 看 一 頭 老 虎 如 何 拒 絕
花 叢 的 誘 惑
Originally created for City Magazine (1990)
106x146 mm, Polaroid
You come toward me, or we simply drift along with
days 你 說 迎 我 而 來 , 還 是 我 們 隨 未 來 而 去
Originally created for the cover of Design Exchange
(1988) 106x146 mm, Polaroid. M+ Museum
collection
Deep in the purplish-pink memories, sweetness and bitterness echo to each other back and forth
深 在 紫 桃 紅 色 的 記 憶 , 又 總 有 甜 蜜 與 苦 澀 來 回 呼 喚
Originally created for Mandarin Hotel magazine (1988) 106x146 mm, Polaroid

The distant West Lake, can a rock from the heart
float upon its waters?
西 湖 遠 眺 。 如 何 在 湖 水 浮 起 一 塊 心 中 的 石
For a two-person solo exhibition with Leung Ping
Kwan (1990) 106x146 mm, Polaroid
A black river, seen up close at Mount Everest
在 珠 穆 朗 瑪 峰 近 看 一 匹 黑 色 的 河
Originally created for City Magazine (1990)
106x146 mm, Polaroid. M+ Museum collection
On the other side of the ocean, we frolic and
coexist with the stars
在 大 洋 彼 岸 , 我 們 與 星 星 嬉 戲 共 存
Originally created for City Magazine (1990)
106x146 mm, Polaroid. M+ Museum collection
This summer, a journey must be made, one that
transcends the bounds of times
這 個 夏 天 , 好 要 安 排 一 趟 超 越 時 限 的 遠 行
Originally created for City Magazine (1990)
106x146 mm, Polaroid

Bitter melon is said to be a relative of the durian
苦 瓜 傳 說 是 榴 槤 的 親 屬
For a two-person solo exhibition with Leung Ping Kwan (1990)
106x146 mm, Polaroid, hand-writing over printed with a copying
machine
(The text written on the Polaroid)
要 拍 也 斯 給 苦 瓜 的 頌 詩 卻 不 是
苦 瓜 的 季 節 。 我 們 去 澳 門 之 前
也 斯 說 他 的 母 親 可 代 我 們 在 灣
仔 的 市 場 找 找 。 回 來 後 看 見 苦
瓜 也 還 未 是 我 們 心 中 的 完 美 ,
黃 楚 喬 說 他 再 往 市 場 看 看 有 什
麼 幸 運 的 機 會 。 其 中 七 隻 是 我
們 後 來 買 的 , 和 我 們 心 中 的 詩
還 是 有 一 段 距 離 。 今 天 回 影 室
的 途 中 經 過 市 場 , 看 見 苦 瓜 還
不 如 我 們 手 中 的 好 看 , 卻 見 旁
邊 的 榴 槤 閃 動 着 炫 耀 的 轔 光 。
不 如 也 斯 就 將 頌 詩 改 寫 給 榴
槤 。 那 不 過 是 追 求 完 美 的 途 中
一 點 非 分 之 想 。
We wanted to take a photograph
for Yesi’s ode to the bitter melon,
but it wasn’t the right season.
Before we left for Macau, Yesi
mentioned that his mother could
help us look for some at the
market in Wan Chai. When we
returned, we found that the bitter
melons still weren’t quite what
we had envisioned. Hoping for
a stroke of luck, Holly offered to
check the market again. In the
end, we bought seven, though
they still didn’t quite match
the poem in our hearts. Today,
on our way back to the studio,
we passed by the market and
saw more bitter melons—none
more appealing than the ones
we had. But beside them, the
durians gleamed, flaunting their
dazzling golden glow. Perhaps
Yesi should rewrite the ode for
the durian instead. A fleeting
thought in the endless pursuit of
perfection.
Pilgrimage
Written by Holly Lee (Reprinted from DOUBLE DOUBLE, issue 0108-2021)
In the book Instant Stories Wim Wenders related a small anecdote about meeting a person in
CBGB’s adjoining café in New York City:
…That was the end of the conversation. But in turning away she wrote a number on a piece of
paper, next to her name ‘Annie’. “If ever you come to San Francisco, give me a call. I’m flying
back out there tomorrow.” I pocketed the number and cast a shy smile at her. Fat chance…
That meeting was in 1973, and shortly, perhaps by fate brought him to San Francisco, meeting
up with Annie Leibovitz, who would lead him to the open road, leaving San Francisco down the
Pacific Coast to Los Angles. The whole experience must have been awe-inspiring, as it kicked
off his career of making road movies - the trilogy with film titles as Alice in the Cities (74), The
Wrong Move (75) and Kings of the Road (76).

II
I have a piece of paper, actually a name card with an address written on it by Annie, whom I
encountered briefly at the Peak in Hong Kong ten years after, in 1983. In spite of her fame she
was friendly, and invited me to visit her if I ever go to New York. On that mild Winter day, both of
us were on assignment, she, hunting for locations for a portrait series of celebrities for America
Express, and I, shooting fashion for some unknown Hong Kong export sportswear manufacturer.
I was heavily pregnant, wearing a blue pullover sweatshirt with a dairy cattle printed on it. I was
thinking, a future visit to New York would be great, especially getting a chance to meet Annie.
III
Before reading Pilgrimage, I was reading Susan Sontag, her Project
For A Trip to China. Interestingly it makes me want to write
something similar. My father was in Cuba, he died there. And for
years, I’ve been talking about going to Cuba, but that motivation was
never strong enough. Cuba was never on the top of my list, I’d rather
choose Croatia, Romania, Uzbekistan or India. The most I associate
with Cuba, besides the vague image of my father, is Wim Wenders, his film and the music in
Buena Vista Social Club. The film, together with the album, sparked a revival of interest in prerevolutionary
period Cuban music (30s to 50s) at end of the last century.
More or less around that time, during an interview I was asked by a Japanese newspaper about
my father in Cuba, I wondered why they were interested. Frankly I had nothing to tell them, like,
when further investigated about feminism they detected in my pictures, I admitted I hadn’t even
thought about that issue. The feeling of a father, my father, is never there, for I have never met
him, and will never be able to. I only know him as a Chinese man with business in Cuba, got a
bride in Hong Kong, and as 1952 closing in and prompting his return, he sailed en route from
Osaka, back to Havana. I know him as a merchant turned soldier. Among the few photographs
I have of my father, I found this one with him talking and dinning with some other people who
looked like soldiers. He looked comfortable and totally blend in. Now Susan talked about her
father in China, suddenly, I feel, once upon a time I had a father, he lived in Cuba.
When I had that opportunity, I went by the address on her card, rang the door bell, but nobody
answered. I guess I was not in luck, Annie was on the road again.
Recently I picked up Pilgrimage (2011), a book of words and photographs Annie Leibovitz worked
on as a personal, restorative project. For a year, she went to places, homes of artists she loved,
and people she respected, photographing interiors, and objects once belonged to them. Emily
Dickinson, Virginia Woolf, Darwin, Freud, David Thoreau, Georgia O’Keeffe…she lingered in
those places, trying to capture their presence in lieu of their absence. It was a project Susan
Sontag and she always wanted to do together, sadly but not entirely lost, she could now focus to
make up her own list.
A friend was there a couple of years ago, she offered to do some research, but to no avail. Perhaps
I could ask another friend Steven, who vacations Havana almost every Summer. Perhaps I could
just fly there, with my father’s letters and photographs. If all else fails, I could still write, Project
For A Trip to Cuba.

Diptych (2014-2023)
Diptych (2014–2023), a series of over
1,500 diptychs created over ten years,
is currently being reformatted for
publication in book volumes. In the
meantime, you’re welcome to browse a
flipbook version of the series at diptych.
leekasing.com as we continue the work
in progress.
The series is also shared on Facebook
and Instagram several times a week.
A Black Occurrence and the Book with Deep Red Backdrop, 2020

(above) Tree Roots and a Circle: A Story, 2020
(below) Soil and Life, 2020
(above) A Banquet of Desolation, 2020
(below) Writing in the Sun, 2020

Night Reading 夜 讀 記
You’re welcome to browse a flipbook version of the series at:
reads.doubledouble.org/2024/11/night-reading.html
The series is also shared on Facebook and Instagram several times a week.

TERRAIN
TERRAIN is a daily collaboration project featuring photography by Lee Ka-sing paired with responsive
haiku by Gary Michael Dault. The project aims to produce 1,000 collaborative pairs, to be presented across
twenty volumes of books. We are currently on Volume Thirteen.
These daily collaborations are published on the front page of OCEANPOUNDS.COM, an online retail
platform showcasing works by Lee Ka-sing and Holly Lee. The site offers a diverse range of creations,
including originals, unique pieces, multiples, objects, monographs, and PDF e-books.