Bookmarks and Quotes
Inspired by a YouTube playlist
"In the rhythm of the waves
Find your peace
Ride the waves of life"
Back in Singapore when I was student in secondary school, the subject I hated the most was also one of the vehicles that brought me joy. I found studying Chinese as a second language difficult. There were so many characters to memorise and the penalties for making mistakes can include an unhealthy dose of shame. The flipside of it is that the poetry and art is embedded into the language from the way sentence construction prioritises a descriptive approach and the script is elegant.
Outside of the classroom and exam papers, Chinese language made its way into the music I listen to and way I communicated with friends. During my secondary school years between 1990 - 1993, my friends and I listened to pop and folk songs from Taiwan and Singapore. We would identify inspirational phrases from these songs and share them with each other. Before Whatsapp, Instagram and mobile phones, we would share these lyrics either written down on a piece of paper or on the back of bookmarks.
These bookmarks were made from firm card stock printed with various scenes inspired by nature or Chinese ink paintings. Some of these cards may even have inspirational quotes pre printed and some of them even came with their own plastic sleeves to protect the card from damage. I'm not sure how many of these cards were actually used as intended, but they were viewed as an acceptable way for male friends to exchange tokens of friendship.
I thought of this recently when I played this play list as background music when I worked from home.
It's in English. But the intention to be inspirational paired with music and a beautiful artwork could be the bookmark of this time period.
These photos taken a few weeks back seem to have sufficient negative space for an inspiring quote.
