In June 2017, I took an encyclopaedia from the Shanghai Public Library without permission. It was a magnificent illustrated compendium of Chinese aesthetic traditions, covering every field of popular arts without exception: theatre, dance and opera; landscaping; architecture and furniture; hairstyles and dress; as well as toys and graphic design. We understand the world insofar as we are able to name it and represent it to ourselves. Although I was unable to read the text, I was able to navigate the volume through its images, which I copied by hand onto coloured papers as a form of study. The result is an archive of 555 drawings through which I have attempted to incorporate the history of a culture so distant from my own into my imagination.
Note: after living in Shanghai for two years, I returned the encyclopaedia to its place.