MYTHS IN THE MAKING · VOL.01 · 36 PHOTOGRAPHS

補天的人

《神話未完成》第一冊|Mending the Sky

36 張 · 6 章 · 圖片可點開放大,用左右鍵逐張看 · 每張都附 Flickr 連結

史旺姬《補天的人》第22幅,第4章「分擔」

創作理念 · STATEMENT

天裂開的時候,她先移開一張淋雨的椅子。

古書說,女媧煉五色石補天。這裡的五色石,是採石場岩壁上一層層的色帶;補天,是一塊要很多雙手才撐得起的布。石承受重量,布覆蓋破口,線把兩邊連在一起。

第一次,材料不肯靠攏。她停下手,把破口舉向光;桌邊於是多了一個位置,另一雙手帶來另一種方法。神蹟成了幾個人一起做的工作。

鏽紅圍裙換成盛裝,衣擺仍沾著灰;最後,她穿回平常的藍裙。

天空沒有恢復原樣。它帶著接縫,再撐過一天。椅子回到窗邊,她帶走一卷線。

Read the statement in English

When the sky cracks open, she first moves a chair out of the rain.

In the old texts, Nüwa smelts five-coloured stones to mend the heavens. Here the stones are bands of colour in a quarry wall, and the mending is a cloth that takes many hands to raise. Stone carries the weight, cloth covers the break, thread joins the edges.

The first attempt fails; the materials will not hold. She stops and lifts the tear to the light, and a place opens at the table for another pair of hands, another way of working. The miracle becomes shared labour.

The rust-red apron gives way to ceremonial dress, its hem still dusty; at the end she is back in an everyday blue skirt.

The sky is not made new. It keeps its seams and holds for one more day. The chair returns to the window; she leaves with a spool of thread.

在 Flickr 看完整相簿 ↗

01裂口The opening

雨先落在一張空椅上。
她把椅子移開,才抬頭看天。

The rain found an empty chair first.
She moved it before looking up.

02收集What can be carried

石頭不因為被選中而變輕。
她把重量,一點一點帶回去。

Being chosen did not make the stones lighter.
She carried their weight home, a little at a time.

03第一次失敗The first seam

兩種材料還不懂得靠在一起。
她停下手,把破口舉向光。

The two materials had not yet learned to meet.
She stopped pulling and held the opening to the light.

04分擔More than two hands

桌邊多留了一個位置。
另一雙手,也帶來另一種方法。

She left another place at the table.
Another pair of hands brought another way.

05修補Holding the sky

他們沒有讓天空恢復原樣。
他們讓它,能夠再承受一天。

They did not return the sky to what it had been.
They made it able to hold another day.

06帶著接縫生活Living with the seam

椅子回到窗邊。布慢慢乾了。
她帶走一卷線,門外還有日常。

The chair returned to the window. The cloth dried slowly.
She took a spool of thread. Beyond the door, life continued.

STORY · 故事與改寫

故事與改寫

這一冊從哪一則神話出發,又改寫了什麼。

故事從《淮南子・覽冥訓》的女媧補天出發:往古之時,「四極廢,九州裂」,於是「女媧煉五色石以補蒼天,斷鼇足以立四極」。

五色石與補天來自這個文本傳統。空椅、布與縫線、工作間、材料的失敗與共同修補,都是本書的創作;它們不是古典原文的逐句再現,也不代表任何宗教團體的正式神像。

在這次改寫裡,史旺姬不是一次就把天補好的神。她先照顧身邊的事物,失敗後停下,讓別人的方法進來。天空最後保留接縫,日常也繼續下去。

來源與參考

女媧補天也見於《列子・湯問》。東漢王充在《論衡・談天》引述同一說法後評論:「以天道人事論之,殆虛言也。」補天在古代就有不同的講法,也有人懷疑;本書只取《淮南子・覽冥訓》作為起點。

女媧至今仍受供奉。河北涉縣媧皇宮的女媧祭典,列入中國首批國家級非物質文化遺產名錄(2006)。本書不描繪任何廟宇、祭典或神像。

故事參考:《淮南子・覽冥訓》、《列子・湯問》、《論衡・談天》,據維基文庫公開轉錄;中國非物質文化遺產網「女媧祭典」項目頁。中英文字皆為本書原創,沒有引用現代譯文。

The story begins with Nuwa repairing the sky in the Lanming chapter of the Huainanzi: in a distant age the four pillars of the world gave way and the land split apart, and Nuwa smelted five-coloured stones to patch the sky and cut the legs of a great turtle to set up the four pillars.

The five-coloured stones and the repair of the sky belong to that textual tradition. The empty chair, the cloth and thread, the workshop, the failed materials and the shared repair are inventions of this book. They are not a literal illustration of the ancient text or an official religious image.

In this adaptation, Swanky Ji is not a goddess who mends the sky in one stroke. She tends to what is near, pauses after failing, and lets someone else's method in. The sky keeps its seams, and everyday life goes on.

Sources

A similar account appears in the Tangwen chapter of the Liezi. In the Tantian chapter of the Lunheng, Wang Chong quotes the same story and judges it most likely untrue. The repair of the sky was told, and doubted, in different ways even in antiquity; this book takes only the Lanming chapter of the Huainanzi as its starting point.

Nuwa is still worshipped today. The Nuwa ritual at Wahuang Palace in She County, Hebei, was named in China's first national list of intangible cultural heritage in 2006. This book does not depict any temple, rite or cult image.

Story references: Huainanzi, Lanming chapter; Liezi, Tangwen chapter; Lunheng, Tantian chapter, from public transcriptions on Chinese Wikisource; the China Intangible Cultural Heritage website entry for the Nuwa ritual. All Chinese and English text is original to this book; no modern translation is quoted.

史旺姬 × SWANKY · MYTHS IN THE MAKING

繼續看下去。

36 張依定稿的 6 章順序排列;可以到 Flickr 逐張看,也可以接著讀系列的其他冊。