Much Loved

珍愛的兒時夥伴。

“If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older.” – Tom Stoppard

“如果你隨身攜帶著自己的童年，你將永遠不會變老。”

After briefly explaining the reason why I picked the name for my creative group “Much Love Crew”, I think I should write in more detail about the feature “Much Loved” I saw in that magazine. Since reading that article on the day when we were brainstorming for the group, was one of the main reasons we finalized our decision. The chance of that was not just a coincidence.

上次簡單的說明了為什麼選擇了命名我們的團隊為Much Love Crew之後，我想要再稍微寫一些關於那天我隨機買來的雜誌裡讀到的專欄 “Much Love” 。畢竟是因為剛好在構思團隊名稱時讀了那篇專欄，而讓我決定要以Much Love命名，這樣的機緣絕對不只是巧合而已。

“Much Loved” project started with the simple idea of the photographer, Mark Nixon, wanted to photograph the teddy bear (or Peter Rabbit) of his son. And later on, Nixon asked his clients to bring in their kid’s teddy bears to take the photo for an exhibition at his studio. But, instead of bringing kids’ teddy, a lot of adults brought in their cherished teddy and told their stories.

“Much Loved” 計畫開始於一個非常單純的想法，一開始攝影師Mark Nixon只想要拍他兒子的兔子玩偶，後來覺得這樣的系列很像可以放在他工作室裡作展覽。於是他要求他的客戶都帶自己孩子的泰迪熊或玩偶來讓他拍攝。但是很意外的，更多的成年人帶著他們兒時的玩偶過來，而每一個玩偶都有著歲月的痕跡，及訴說著不同的故事。

I think everyone has that one thing you kept from your childhood that meant a lot to you. And every child has a teddy bear, bunny or a blanket that will make them feel safe and give them comfort at night. I used to have a big red rabbit when I was little, and I had to hold him to sleep every night. I was devastated when my mom threw him away, because his nose and one of his eyes were torn.

每個人在童年時期都會有至少一件對你有深刻意義的東西，讓你保留至今天。而每一個孩子都有一個泰迪熊、布娃娃、玩偶或是一條被巾陪伴安撫他們晚上安心入睡。我曾經有隻大紅色的兔子玩偶，小時候我每晚一定要抱著他睡覺。在他失去了鼻子跟一個眼睛之後，阿母把他給扔了。我記得，我為此哭了好久好久。

When my kids were born, one of my good friends who was also a photographer would buy each of them a Kaloo Rabbit. They still have them, and my girls still need to hold them to sleep at night. Do you still have your teddy bear, bunny or stuffed animals when you were little? What’s your “much loved” story?!

每次當我孩子出生時，一個攝影師好友，都會買一隻兔子Kaloo給我的孩子們。至今他們還必須得抱著他們入睡。你還有留著你兒時的泰迪熊、布娃娃或是玩偶嗎？我們也想聽聽看你的故事！！