Stella So Explained

Stella So
Occupation:Illustrator

Stella So Man-yee (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 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

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: So . Stella . Ogi . Fusami . Suter . Rebecca . Nagaike . Kazumi . Lent . John A. . Women's Manga in Asia and Beyond . 2019 . . London . 9783319972282 . 353–359 . Manga in Hong Kong. Palgrave Studies in Comics and Graphic Novels . 10.1007/978-3-319-97229-9_21 . 193112087 .
  2. Web site: SO Man Yee Stella . Department of Fine Arts . Chinese University of Hong Kong . 14 March 2021.
  3. News: Hong Kong artist, Stella So . . 5 January 2006.
  4. News: Stella So：行樓梯 找靈感 . Wen Wei Po . 26 November 2007.
  5. Book: Lent . John A. . Asian Comics . 2015 . University Press of Mississippi . 9781496813015.
  6. Chu . Kin-wai . Women Living in Solitude: A Case Study of The Base of an Old Girl and Hitorigurashi Mo 5 Nen Me . Feminist Encounters . April 2020 . 4 . 1 . 1–16 . 10.20897/femenc/7910. free . 1854/LU-01HBRECR9W57142QYYZDA6MGWK . free .
  7. Web site: Old Girl . https://web.archive.org/web/20210306224544/https://www.comicavenue.hk/old-girl-eng . 6 March 2021 . 14 March 2021 . Hong Kong Avenue of Comic Stars . Hong Kong Comics and Animation Federation.
  8. Web site: An Artist's Impression of HKICH . . 14 March 2021 . 2018.
  9. Web site: Streets and Alleys of the Western District I . Art in Station Architecture . MTR Corporation . 14 March 2021.

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