A Not Sublime Me is an online project, a novel in serialization. The novel is about a young Chinese teacher’s life from 2021 to 2022, when Covid and corresponding government policies influence every aspect of people’s lives in China. The protagonist in this story, Pan Ni, is a bear who is always misidentified as a Panda by their appearance.
Pan Ni talks about their overworking as a mediocre commuter, their relationships in both real life and Internet, and their frustrations about everyday’s life during the pandemic. In the middle of the story, a winter sport games happens in their city. The mascot for this sport games, Panda Chao Chao, is well-loved by people nationwide as a virtual spokesman and influencer. Coincidentally, Chao Chao is strikingly similar to Pan Ni in appearance. This causes unexpected things to happen in Pan Ni’s life.
Updates on May, 2022
The rough design & first edition of the story now is shown in ->Satellite online exhibition, Security and Surveillance from Randr research.
Updates on January, 2023
The story comes as Pan Ni’s self-talks which are now posted on Instagram -> (@not_sublime_me) in Chinese from time to time. English version is coming soon. The novel is expected to be published as a zine in the future!
Character design
Graphic design for the zine (Work in progress)
