place to watch the sea

A cat strolls by, swallows perch on electric wires.
The painter anticipates a coming rain.
The sea gently sways back and forth, the fishing grandpa vigorously pulls up an empty fishing rod,
A girl leans against the railing watching the sunset, the sea breeze blows, and fishing boats slowly sail away.
These are all magical moments of a fishing port summer.

Taiwan is an island, and our homes are so close to the sea, yet for many, fishing ports are both familiar and strange. What is the beginning and end of a day at a fishing port like? After residing in Keelung's Zhengbin Fishing Port, illustrator and author Hsu Chih-hong created this book, "A Place to See the Sea," based on the daily life of a fishing port.

Starting with three characters commonly seen at the harbor—a painter, a fisherman, and a tourist—and employing the graphic novel technique, the book uses extremely concise text to outline the different perspectives of these three. The book features both panoramic two-page spreads and comic-style split panels, guiding readers from realism to abstraction, and then back from abstraction to daily life.

The illustrator, the strolling girl, the fishing grandpa, the cat, and the swallows—they might be tense, leisurely, or simply doing nothing. These ordinary moments and emotions weave together a unique and quiet time belonging to the fishing port.