One of the first things you’ll notice about Hansu is that she knows how to turn a phrase. Often found with her nose in a book, a crossword on her lap, a fluorescent post-it note with a query or observation on her side table, she is one of the biggest lovers of language that we know. If you like a good bit of word play to roll around your brain and then off your tongue, she makes for excellent company. She is also hilarious. Astute, sharp in wit and tongue, curious and playful, the lens through which she looks and thinks about the world around her continually makes one pause, think, laugh - all such important human past times. Did we mention her delivery and timing? Impeccable.

Hansu’s writing is so often an intimate, self reflexive look at what it’s like to be a human in the world and we’re excited to share a bit of it with you on this site. Bawdy Tales explores Hansu's writing, voice, and vivid imagination through animated drawings created by Emily Collins and sound design by Kaija Siirala. It also shares brief video snippets of Hansu's life in the assisted care facility she lives in, Amusings, in Vancouver, BC.

Emily Collins: I was introduced to Hansu via my friend and creative collaborator Kaija Siirala in 2014 -- Hansu is Kaija’s aunt. That same year, we collaborated on the short film below, “Hansu Solo”. We loved the process of engaging with the words that Hansu had written and coming up with ideas of how we would visually imagine them. This experience sparked excitement about the possibility of continuing to share Hansu's stories through both her voice and animated visuals. Hansu’s words combined with my background in animation and Kaija’s experience in sound and editing allowed us a delightful creative balance to play upon.

Kaija Siirala: As part of a fairly tight-knit family, I count myself lucky to be one of the recipients of Hansu’s written musings in their varied form: letters, blog posts, emails. She often writes about her daily realities: the aches and pains of her body as it ages and changes, books, past and present family mythologies, what it’s like living in a residential care facility, the people who care for her, the other people who live there, her visitors and the inevitability of the real estate developer who will change the daily reality of so many people when the facility is replaced with individual units and people are dispersed to alternate living situations. To get to navigate through the wormholes of Hansu's writing is always a highlight of my day. I am thrilled to collaborate on this project with Emily and Hansu to bring her words to a wider circle.

Hansu Solo // 2014:

Many Thanks to the Team who Supported the Making of this Project: