Graphic design student Liu Ching-wei (劉經緯) won the Japanese Illustration Award Grand Prix, the first Taiwanese contestant to take the top prize in the award’s history, Liu’s school in Taichung announced on Wednesday.
Presented by the Japan Illustrators’ Association, the award is the most prestigious of its kind in Japan for which international submissions are accepted.
Liu’s surrealist entry The Little Bag, featuring an eponymous bag as the protagonist and filled with Chinese characters and Taiwanese cultural references, was chosen from 348 entries by 174 professional illustrators.
Photo: CNA
“I am surprised and excited by the win,” said Liu, a student in Asia University’s department of visual communication design, adding that the protagonist, a thrown-away bag that embarked on an adventure of discovery and self-affirmation, was inspired by his own experiences.
“My grades at high school were not very good, and I did not find a sense of achievement until I was in college and got into visual design and creative work,” he said.
Liu said his story about the little bag, which eventually discovers the companionship of other abandoned bags and starts a successful circus, mirrored his own story.
Liu said that, two years ago, The Little Bag project caught the interest of celebrity motivational speaker and author Logan Hsu (許榮宏), who helped him to realize his vision.
Each illustration in The Little Bag was hand-sketched by Liu and colored with a software. A single illustration took between a week and a month to complete, Liu said, with the finished piece containing more than 100 illustrations.
Liu said his work is to be exhibited in Tokyo next month and in November.
Department chair Hsieh Sheng-ming (謝省民) said Liu’s piece is unique in that it minimizes the visual role of the protagonist in each illustration and displays a cinematographic quality.
The surrealist characters that appear on Liu’s pages — including an octopus and a driver who is a bird, in addition to the bags — are intriguing and memorable, Hsieh said.
Liu also included culturally specific references in his work, mentioning, for example, Kaohsiung’s Takow Port and Hsinchu’s Neiwan railway line.
“The result is a unique blend of Taiwanese and Western elements that won over the judges at the competition,” Hsieh said.
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