When someone pasts away in Chinese culture, it is believed that they go to the "afterlife." Surviving family members burn paper replicas of material things such as "money" and "valuables" for the deceased so that they are well cared for in their life after death. A "happy afterlife" means that the deceased will continue to care for the surviving loved ones in the present.
This is a compiled collection of personal thoughts I would like to tell my grandfather as well as farewells. The concept of the Chinese afterlife and the ceremonial paper helped me use this as a medium to send "written letters" to my deceased grandfather. The majority of this book fabrication dealt with hand-making and burning, which are both relavent to the action of creating and burning the these objects in common Chinese culture. Since the piece is compiled into an object of temporary existence, materials were greatly considered.
Colophon
Detail of the counterforms of the cut joss paper.
Process at the lasercutting machine
(above) an example of ceremonial joss paper that is typically burned (below) for a deceased realtive
or ancestor. Image credits: Wiki & Prafulla.
