《沒有我們的飯桌》
A Table Without Us

《沒有我們的飯桌》 是 Hemorrhoid Loans /《痔債》 展覽系列的第二章。這個系列以痔瘡作為入口，思考慢性痛楚、羞恥、家庭歷史、照顧、勞動，以及社會如何訓練我們沉默地忍受不適。

在 《痔債》 中，一種醫療狀況，或一個令人尷尬的身體問題，被理解為一種「身體債務」：它被累積、被繼承、被延後處理，並透過痛楚、勞動、沉默與照顧被一再償還。英文標題中的 Loans 指向一種債務結構：誰承受痛楚？誰被期待忍耐？誰提供照顧？而這些身體債務是否有可能被償還、轉化，或以另一種方式被分擔？

《沒有我們的飯桌》 源於藝術家三年前回到香港時經歷的一次農曆新年團年飯。那頓飯發生在一間中式酒樓，桌上點了昂貴的海鮮與節慶菜式：鮑魚、巨型龍蝦、蒸魚、乳鴿，以及其他象徵慶祝、體面、照顧與家庭團聚的食物。所有人都在場，然而氣氛卻極度尷尬，被未解決的張力、情感迴避與無法說出口的事情所籠罩。許多菜最後都沒有被吃完。

飯桌像一本帳簿，記錄着：誰吃，誰拒絕，誰付錢，誰坐在旁邊，誰吞下去，誰擦掉，誰把剩菜帶回家。作品並不直接重述家庭創傷，而是觀察照顧、沉默與未被消化的情緒，如何透過食物、座位安排、節慶儀式與清潔物件被分配。

表面上，飯桌象徵團聚與豐盛；但在作品中，它更像一個發炎的身體：外表完整、熱鬧、昂貴，內裡卻腫脹而堵塞。每一道菜都成為家庭結構的證據。龍蝦是體面與面子的證明；鮑魚是一種從一個身體傳到另一個身體的拒絕；咕嚕肉是被糖包裹的酸；蒸魚是一道不能公開討論的傷口；乳鴿是母親能夠負擔的尊嚴；茶是稀釋沉重的幻想；剩菜是被延後的債務；用過的紙巾則成為身體與家庭共同使用的消失機制。

在 《痔債》 系列中，這一章從治療室移動到飯桌。如果 《痛的翻譯》 聚焦於痛楚進入語言的時刻，《沒有我們的飯桌》 則聚焦於痛楚被儀式覆蓋的時刻。家庭飯局常被理解為團聚與照顧的場景，但它也可以成為沉默被表演的舞台：痛楚透過禮節被管理，未解決的歷史則被慷慨與豐盛的表面掩蓋。

作品並不只關於藝術家的私人療癒，而是追問：當一個家庭無法說話、無法消化，也無法釋放它所承載的東西時，最後還剩下什麼要由身體承受？


A Table Without Us is the second chapter of Hemorrhoid Loans /《痔債》, an ongoing exhibition series that uses hemorrhoids as an entry point to think about chronic pain, shame, family history, care, labour, and the social conditions that teach us to endure discomfort silently.

In Hemorrhoid Loans, a medical condition, or an embarrassing bodily problem, is understood as a form of “body debt”: something accumulated, inherited, postponed, and repeatedly paid for through pain, labour, silence, and care. The word “loans” points to a structure of debt. Who carries the pain? Who is expected to endure it? Who provides care? And can such debt ever be repaid, transformed, or shared differently?

A Table Without Us begins from the memory of a Lunar New Year reunion dinner the artist experienced after returning to Hong Kong. The dinner took place in a Chinese restaurant. Expensive seafood and festive dishes were ordered — abalone, a giant lobster, steamed fish, roasted pigeon, and other foods associated with celebration, dignity, care, and family reunion. Everyone was present. Yet the atmosphere was shaped by unresolved tension, emotional avoidance, and things that could not be said. Many of the dishes were left uneaten.

The table keeps an account: who eats, who refuses, who pays, who sits aside, who swallows, who wipes, and who carries the leftovers home. Rather than retelling a family trauma directly, the work examines how care, silence, and undigested emotions are distributed through food, seating arrangements, festive rituals, and objects of cleaning.

On the surface, the dining table represents reunion and abundance. In the work, however, it becomes more like an inflamed body: complete, lively, and expensive on the outside, yet swollen and blocked within. Each dish becomes evidence of a family structure. Lobster becomes proof of dignity and face; abalone becomes a refusal passed from one body to another; sweet and sour pork becomes acidity covered by sugar; steamed fish becomes a wound that cannot be publicly discussed; roasted pigeon becomes a form of dignity the mother can afford; tea becomes the fantasy of diluting heaviness; leftovers become deferred debt; and used tissues become a mechanism of disappearance shared by both the body and the family.

Within the series, this second chapter moves from the therapy room to the dining table. If The Translation of Pain focuses on the moment when pain enters language, A Table Without Us focuses on the moment when pain is covered by ritual. The family meal is often understood as a scene of reunion and care, but it can also become a stage where silence is performed, pain is managed through etiquette, and unresolved histories are hidden beneath the appearance of generosity.

The work is not centred on private healing alone. Instead, it asks: when a family cannot speak, cannot digest, and cannot release what it carries, what is left for the body to bear?

Researcher: Wang Yi Hong
Technicians: Jamie Donald
Special Thanks: Abel Robsahm, Jamie Donald