Somewhere good place

"...Everyone has disappeared, but the street lights still turn on on time.

The car had been parked there for a long time, but it seemed as if the owner had just left.

The world is taking care of itself as well as ever, and even, one suspects, is becoming more peaceful.

I was deeply attracted by such a magical and ironic picture. "

——Yu Xiaolu

In a quiet deep blue, the diver walked in the city that seemed to be the same as usual. The feed bowl in the living room was still in the corner, the bus was stopping at the traffic light, and the driveway was as crowded as if it had just come off work. As we passed the factory, we could still hear the roaring sound. But, everyone is gone...

"Dad, are you back?" In the warm and dim front, the figures of many dogs were vaguely visible. "But, you don't seem to be able to see me." Duoduo accompanied the divers along the way, walking together on this walking route that they were all too familiar with. But, in the past, weren’t the exterior walls of apartments filled with air-conditioning compressors? Are there not that many cars? Can you find friends? As they walk, where will Duoduo and Diver return?

"Somewhere" uses a dual-line narrative of text and two-tone images to cleverly combine the past memories, doomsday scenes, and inner monologues of the dog "Duoduo" and his owner "Diver" on the page. The pictures and text interpret each other, and the perspectives of the past and present are richly switched, interweaving the profound emotions of the interdependence between humans and animals, and reflecting the common feelings of humans being displaced in the face of climate change. The screen uses subject-object shots to create an atmosphere of both closeness and alienation, vaguely highlighting the contrast between different time and space. The image moving all the way to the right makes a very clever transformation at the end to reveal the mystery. The picture is intertwined with peace and sadness, beauty and cruelty, giving people a gentle warning.

The author Yu Xiaolu spent three years carefully polishing this debut picture book. The creative process first used meticulous and smooth pencils and charcoals to outline the outlines of the characters and scenes, and then digitally post-produced the hand-drawn originals to carefully process the images. Color and texture. Low-saturation yellow and blue images are alternately interspersed to create a contrast between the paradise of the past and the land of doom. Pencil and charcoal touches are left on the image, giving the overall nostalgic atmosphere of simplicity and restraint. The intertwining of tranquility and sadness conveyed in the picture makes people think deeply.