CATHERINE
BORn
London
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I come from a mixed race background, I was born in London and raised by my single mum who is Chinese Malay, but most of my family have emigrated to New Zealand so we’ve got no family here.
My po po (maternal grandma) gave me this watch about 12 years ago, I am one of the few people that I know who still wears a watch because a lot of people use their phones. I like to think that I’m not sentimentally attached to things because I feel very passionately that all I am is an accumulation of relationships, rather than objects. But this is very special to me. I don’t wear jewellery but I will always wear a watch.
My po po said, you will keep this watch for the rest of your life and my mum had a watch which she has also kept so when po po gave this to me, I saw that as very symbolic as a continuation between me, my mum and my grandma. I’m very aware of the three of us being a unit because my po po would come to London to look after me.
I always wear it with the watch facing towards my wrist so it is protected. I keep it on the inside because I know that people instantly protect this as quite a sensitive area so I know that if it’s there, it will be cradle and protected.
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我來自一個混血家庭。我在倫敦出生，由來自馬來的華人單親媽媽帶大。我的家人大多已經移民到新西蘭，所以這裡沒有多少家人。
大約12年前，我的婆婆給了我這塊手錶。我可能是我認識的為數不多還在戴錶的人。現在大部分人都用手機。我不認為我對東西有很深的感情，因為我覺得我自己是各種關係的集合體，而不是各種物品的集合體。但是這個手錶對我意義非凡。我不帶珠寶，但是我一直都帶一塊手錶。
我的婆婆說，你這輩子都娿留著這塊手錶。我媽媽也有一塊帶了一輩子的手錶。所以當婆婆給我這塊表的時候，我覺得這好有象徵意義，代表了我婆婆，我媽媽還有我之間的延續關係。我清楚地意識到我們三個人是一個整體。因為婆婆會來倫敦照顧我。
我帶表的時候，總是把表面朝里。這樣可以保護表面。我把它帶在內側，因為我知道人們通常覺得手腕內側很敏感，所以要保護這個部位。如果我知道我的表在這里，就會被保護。