For a prostitute who’s been on the game for more than half a century, she isn’t doing too badly: this most unusual of Chinese characters has thus far spawned a novel, a Broadway play starring William Shatner, a Hollywood film, two unofficial sequels and even a ballet. And though the realm she inhabits is one of fantasy, her story – first created by British novelist Richard Mason in 1957 – defies its boundaries.
Suzie Wong, in its original form, is a tale about a young British artist who moves to Hong Kong in search of inspiration, where he inadvertently checks himself into a brothel for British and American sailors (as one does in these parts), in which our lady plays the role of mascot. “Charming!” the artist declares joyfully, filing away his faux pas as the procurement of ‘subject matter’. Bar girls, of course, abound, but it’s Suzie – so much more than a bar girl – who proceeds to steal his heart.
Fast forward more than 50 years and Our Heroine, along with all she represents, has been embraced by comics-loving French illustrator, painter and artist Virginie Broquet, currently resident in Cambodia, who – with a slight tweak – has produced a series of graphic novels featuring… Suzy Wong. Her latest, Suzy Wong And The Spirits, is billed as ‘a graphic novel for adults dedicated with love to some of Asia’s most fascinating cities. It is a fusion between an artist’s very personal travel sketchbook and a comic book. Giving free reign to her imagination, it is the author’s hope that the work is still firmly grounded in the sensibility of real life.’
Borrowing heavily from the supernatural (says the summary: ‘Born in Hong Kong on the 17th day of the fourth month of the year of the Tiger, Suzy is in fact the reincarnation of the Daughter of the Moon… protected by three invisible but rogue ancestral spirits: her godmother Qing Yi, egghead godfather Wen Chou and brutal uncle Jia Zi’), Suzy’s travels encompass New York, Bangkok, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing and Japan – the idea, ostensibly, being to educate Francophones about the pearls of Asia.
After the brothel in which she was raised burns down in a mysterious fire, Suzy is moved to boarding school and later embarks on a mission to reconnect with her scattered relatives, ‘all tenants of shady establishments and followers of various occult sciences’. What really happened that fateful night, after which the whole family chose exile? Suzy’s French-language tale unfolds in a series of gloriously colour-rich etchings, halfway between cartoons-for-grown-ups and soft erotica, now on display along with the author’s earlier work at the Institut francais.
WHO: Virginie Broquet
WHAT: Suzy Wong graphic novel exhibition
WHERE: Institut francais, #218 St. 184
WHEN: Now!
WHY: The strange existential travels of a hooker with a heart of gold