Only the rare art catalogue can take you on journeys to faraway places and help you bridge cultural understanding with an immersed experience in the traveler’s journey.
• 23 paintings reflecting life in China, Myanmar, and Nepal
• 4 travel articles
• 2 pages of hand painted comic art
• as well as the artist’s statement and biography
Have you ever lived abroad? How did people respond to you as a foreigner? What were some of the sights and experiences that you are grateful to have had due to your living — not simply tourist-ing — abroad? What comparisons and contrasts did you make between the foreign culture and your own? What were some of the odd experiences? The things that made you laugh out loud?
In Chinese, the word, “Waiguoren” means foreigner. And because China is a somewhat closed culture, it’s not uncommon for some locals to stare, point, or yell, “WAIGUOREN!”when seeing a foreigner.
“Living as an expat ‘WAIGUOREN!’in Suzhou, China regularly opens my mind to wonder, despite the routine reminders of the cultural us/them dynamic specific to the situation. There’s something very special about overcoming the cultural rigidity of that dynamic and finding — with new friends— the commonality of laughter.”
http://davealber.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/dushu-lake-church-sip-suzhu-dave-alber-1.jpg10281280Dave AlberDave Alber2018-06-06 05:25:352019-05-29 01:03:01Dushu Lake Church, Suzhou, China