阿嬡
Mother
Feb 2024
Overglaze on porcelain
外婆從來沒有照顧過小時候的蘇姍，一直在外「打住家工」賺錢回家，後來她嫁到了台灣，持印尼護照的蘇姍未能提供簽證所需的財力證明，所以一直無法見面，只可以由外婆來港。
一直受著她的接濟，蘇姍亦無法照顧母親的晚年。
潮州人不叫自己阿媽做母親（阿嬡 a1 ai5)，反而會稱呼她為阿姨，只有母親過身時才會叫母親。
我猜可能是過去孩子容易夭折，或者父母外出工作，小孩多以家族共同撫養，換一個稱呼淡化親子之間關係。
Susan’s mother never cared for her as a child, having spent years working as a live-in domestic helper to support the family. Later, when her mother moved to Taiwan, Susan—holding an Indonesian passport—could not meet the financial proof required for a visa. eunions were only possible when her mother visited Hong Kong.
Even as Susan relied on her mother’s financial support, she remained unable to care for her own mother in her final years.
Among the Teochew people, mothers are not called “mother” (a1 ai5) but instead addressed as “auntie”—a term reserved until the moment of her death. I speculate this linguistic displacement arose from histories of high child mortality, or parents leaving for work, their children raised communally by the clan. A shifted name, perhaps, to soften the weight of bonds strained by absence.