The Whole & The Parts is an autobiographical artist and photography book by Vivien Wu which explores the nebulous relationship between self and other, past and present, and individual and collective through the documentary lens of one ordinary life.
When do we begin to perceive a story, a 'person', within a scattering of seemingly unrelated snapshots? What makes me ‘me’, if not the people and experiences that have shaped me and I them in return? Vivien says, 'The book juxtaposes black and white film photography, which documents my daily life and the people who have appeared in my life over the past year, with handwritten diary entries, dream journals, post-it note poems, Instax photos, cards, and letters I have collected over the past twenty years. It is both an intimate examination of an ordinary life and a sweeping reflection on the extraordinary nature of a life.'
