I Grew up on the Back of a Water Ox is an artistic project that uniquely juxtaposes the calculated pictorial language of advertising with the emotionally charged, unintentional beauty of private photography. The result is a book in which an extraordinary advertising campaign interwines with an immigrant’s oral history, laconically but breath-takingly told.
Lee has been the face of Lily’s Stomach Supply for more than ten years. Lee came to Europe from Thailand in the 1970s. First to Germany, then to Switzerland. She stands for the Zurich based panasian restaurant’s unconventional and surprising advertising campaign. A.C. Kupper has directed the design for this project from the outset.
Lee, who ist actually called Jintana Junhom, is not a fictious figure, but an authentic protagonist who is closely connected to Lily’s in many ways. A.C. Kupper has made Lee, a face that has changed over time and yet remains familiar and recognizable, into its visual communication icon. This book takes us through the world of Lily’s Stomach Supply and Lee’s life, featuring wonderful private photographs, advertisements, slogans and design. Esther Epstein met Lee regularly and talked to her about her life and has now made these conversations into a fascinating true story about a woman who came to Zurich from Bangkok. Cello Rohr & Stefan Tamò are catering entrepreneurs from Zurich (Josef, Italia, Mobile Cuisine, Primitivo) and they also initiated Lily’s Stomach Supply—from 1999 in Langstrasse in Zurich and from 2003 in Rebgasse in Basel.
“The Bowery in NYC is where you'll find the best restaurant supplies. These shops are run by Chinese people and they have everything you need for gastronomy. We were there in 1998 to stock up on something like this. Jackie and Lesley were our advisors, and it was they who gave us the idea to name our first pan-Asian restaurant on Zurich's Langstrasse Lily's Stomach Supply. Jimmy, Jackie, Lee, Suzy etc. are names that Asian women living in exile gave themselves because their real names proved to be too complicated for life in the West.”
(Cello Rohr, Stefan Tamò)