When You Make No Art is an autobiographical account by the New York-based photographer and author Wen-You Cai describing his move to America as a child, and growing up in the art world.
Each chapter holds inspirations and vignettes from museums, travels, and random encounters around the world that inspired her later endeavours with the formation of the publisher Special Special as an art project space and community platform. Cai conceptualises the idea of a 'reluctant artist' or someone who is immersed in the arts but has trouble making work.
This third edition includes a preface written by Wen-You Cai reflecting on this book ten years later.
Special Special, 276pp, 11cm x 17cm, illustrated paperback, 3rd edition, 2025