Publisher • General Practices
Year • 2022
Pages • 26
Dimensions • 105 x 74 mm

The chapbook forms a part of Wee's 2022 Kochi-Muziris Biennale installation, as a sculptural stack of paper floating off the wall. The chapbooks is a diary that traces through the single biography of a poet-publisher, the history of small press publishing in se asia in the late 20th century. The chapbook records their dreams and desires, in three phases that mirror the history of small-press publishing.

The first chapter describes the excitement of setting up one’s press and receiving manuscripts, like so many trade unions, community newsletters, journalists and writers in the early days of the post-colonies. The second describes the publishing life under regulations and constraints newly introduced. The diary turns to poetry as a transmutation of language in order for words to survive. The final chapter occurs in the wake of the press shutting down. The Biennale installation corresponds similarly to each of these three chapters, with the chapbook forming a vertical column that can be seen as present but still illegible poetry.