G‘s Sketchbook
About G
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The Clams is an illustrated novel inspired by real family memories, set in Qingdao, a seaside city in northern China.
Using the clam, a familiar creature along the coast, as a recurring visual motif, the story intertwines its natural journey, from carrying a tiny pearl within its shell, with a love story that spans generations.
In the late twentieth century, China was undergoing profound social and everyday changes. Against this backdrop, two ordinary young people meet and fall in love in a small coastal city shaped by sea winds and tides, supporting one another through quiet yet difficult years. Their love is not built on grand declarations. Instead, like a clam resting silently on the seabed, it slowly gathers the grains of sand brought by life, wrapping them layer by layer until they eventually form a warm and precious pearl.
The book is not only a personal story of love and family, but also an attempt to capture the emotional resilience of ordinary Chinese people of that generation through the details of everyday life. Watercolour is the primary medium throughout the book, and every image is created by hand. Soft colours and delicate brushwork evoke the atmosphere of a small seaside town, the feeling of the era, and the subtle emotions between its characters.
Shorelines, streets, old objects, and fragments of personal memory intersect throughout the illustrations, allowing history and individual lives to reflect one another. Clam is both a memory of my parents’ love and a gentle tribute to time, family, and ordinary life.
Awards received to date