Imagine walking in an alleyway in Shanghai where people are passing, windows are full of residents going about everyday chores, and shops are busy when you hear a “Miaow”. You can't locate its source anywhere until you finally look upwards to see a cat perched atop a fruit shop. Marcel Heijnen, a Dutch photographer, experienced this very thing last fall and took the stealthy kitty's photo. It's now included in his latest book Spot the Shop Cat that came out this month. Along with Australian illustrator Stephen Case, the duo tells the tale of Spot, a cartoon cat who lives in a dried goods shop.
Meet Spot, the cartoon cat who leaps from page to page as he recounts daily life in a dried goods shop, sharing his intuitive dry humour on life, the superiority of cats throughout the ages, and the failings of humans’ so-called best friends.
This delightful book showcases Stephen Case’s cracking illustrations alongside Marcel Heijnen’s beautifully detailed photographs and quirky rhymes, brilliantly converted into comical Catonese by Aki Leung.
A chuckle for all ages, the book throws up a challenge too. Can you “spot the shop cat” in every photo?
It’s not as easy as you think! Source: Spot the Shop Cat: Bleakhouse Books
The book is the latest in a series called Chinese Whiskers, a history of cats and culture through photography and illustration. “As a photographer in Hong Kong it is relatively easy to take lots of interesting photos. The mess and the visual noise – it’s so beautiful. The thing is how you make them special. So I put a little bit of challenge in there that it has to have an animal. Otherwise I can shoot every shop and it will be visually stunning but it won’t be interesting.” – Marcel Heijnen
Chinese Whiskers series
Have fun playing Where's Waldo with the adventurous cats pictured here!
