Stella So

Stella So
Self-portrait of the artist at work
Born1977 (1977)
OccupationIllustrator

Stella So Man-yee (Chinese: 蘇敏怡, born 1977) is a Hong Kong illustrator, comic artist and writer.

Biography

So began drawing from a young age and grew up with Japanese manga such as Doraemon, Dr. Slump, Heidi, as well as the work of Hayao Miyazaki. She cites the influence of her uncles and her secondary school art teacher Mrs. Lam on her early artistic development.[1]

In 2002, So graduated from the School of Design of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.[2] Her graduation piece, an animated short called Very Fantastic, won an IFVA gold award in the short film/animation category in 2002. The film explores the disappearing tong lau of Hong Kong.

So's work draws inspiration from the sights and sounds of Hong Kong, in particular traditional cityscapes and shops.[3] She advocates an appreciation for the cultural and aesthetic value of old Hong Kong buildings and districts, as well as their connection to local history and collective memory.[4] So visits, explores, and records areas of Hong Kong slated for redevelopment, and incorporates images of these neighbourhoods into her work in order to draw attention to their disappearance and "wake up the people to parts of life soon to be lost". So has been cited as one of several artists expressing opposition to the "ravages of corporatism" in Hong Kong.[5]

She also authors the Old Girl (老少女) comic series. This was originally published on a weekly basis in the Ming Pao newspaper, and is a semi-autobiographical, light-hearted account of the daily life of a single woman and her cat, presented in an episodic (diary-like) format.[6] The comic strips have been republished in several compilation books. A sculpture of the "Old Girl" character was included in the Hong Kong Avenue of Comic Stars in Kowloon Park.[7]

So also worked as an instructor at the Department of Fine Arts at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Selected works

Books

  • So, Stella; Wu, Yim-chung (2016). 盂蘭的故事 (in Traditional Chinese). Hong Kong: Joint Publishing. ISBN 9789887742104.
  • So, Stella (2015). 老少女之我是村姑! (in Traditional Chinese). Hong Kong: Joint Publishing. ISBN 9789620434716.
  • So, Stella (2013). 老少女心事 (in Traditional Chinese). Hong Kong: Joint Publishing. ISBN 9789620432453.
  • So, Stella (2009). 老少女基地 (in Traditional Chinese). Hong Kong: Joint Publishing. ISBN 9789620428135.
  • So, Stella (2008). 粉末都市：消失中的香港 (in Traditional Chinese). Hong Kong: Joint Publishing. ISBN 9789620426056.
  • So, Stella (2007). 好鬼棧 : 不可思議的戰前唐樓 (in Traditional Chinese). Hong Kong: Joint Publishing. ISBN 9789620426087.

See also

References

  1. ^ So, Stella (2019). "Manga in Hong Kong". In Ogi, Fusami; Suter, Rebecca; Nagaike, Kazumi; Lent, John A. (eds.). Women's Manga in Asia and Beyond (PDF). Palgrave Studies in Comics and Graphic Novels. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 353–359. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-97229-9_21. ISBN 9783319972282. S2CID 193112087.
  2. ^ "SO Man Yee Stella". Department of Fine Arts. Chinese University of Hong Kong. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  3. ^ "Hong Kong artist, Stella So". HK Magazine. 5 January 2006.
  4. ^ "Stella So：行樓梯 找靈感". Wen Wei Po. 26 November 2007.
  5. ^ Lent, John A. (2015). Asian Comics. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781496813015.
  6. ^ Chu, Kin-wai (April 2020). "Women Living in Solitude: A Case Study of The Base of an Old Girl and Hitorigurashi Mo 5 Nen Me". Feminist Encounters. 4 (1): 1–16. doi:10.20897/femenc/7910. hdl:1854/LU-01HBRECR9W57142QYYZDA6MGWK.
  7. ^ "Old Girl". Hong Kong Avenue of Comic Stars. Hong Kong Comics and Animation Federation. Archived from the original on 6 March 2021. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  8. ^ "An Artist's Impression of HKICH". Leisure and Cultural Services Department. 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  9. ^ "Streets and Alleys of the Western District I". Art in Station Architecture. MTR Corporation. Retrieved 14 March 2021.