How ‘The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction’ essay changed the lives of 2 Hong Kong gallerists
- The 1986 essay by Ursula K. Le Guin suggests humankind’s first tool was not a stick or spear, but something used to carry food and possessions
- Ysabelle Cheung and Willem Molesworth explains how it shaped their approach to creating the experimental art gallery PHD
In her essay The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction (1986), legendary speculative fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin suggests that rather than a stick or spear, humankind’s first tool was actually a vessel or receptacle, used to carry both food and possessions, but also by extension stories and culture.
Ysabelle Cheung and Willem Molesworth, professional and personal partners who are the co-founders of experimental art gallery PHD, converted from a clubhouse in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay area developed by Cheung’s grandfather in the 1970s, tell Richard Lord how the essay changed their lives.
Ysabelle Cheung: “We opened the gallery in large part because we were inspired by the essay. I think I first came across it when I was editing someone’s review of (visual artist) Sin Wai Kin for ArtAsiaPacific. He mentioned that the artist had been influenced by this essay.
“I looked it up, read it, and then spent an entire day reading about the origins of the essay and about Ursula K. Le Guin, and not doing my job. I soon spoke to Willem about it. It kept coming back to me in different ways. This essay has influenced a lot of artists as well.”
We allow people to linger. We have a hang-out space – a library – within the gallery. I’d love to think we’re providing a carrier bag
Willem Molesworth: “Once Ysabelle told me about it, I saw within it the foundations for what for me felt like a philosophical legitimisation of collecting artwork.
“When I finished college, I had a notion that I’d never own anything. Then I somehow ended up working at a gallery, selling artworks for not small amounts of money. It was hard to rationalise selling people objects so expensive when I was anti-object. This essay really changed my mind.
