A tale of two halves: Ian Chen muses on personal truths and lies in his book ‘Sorry Mom, I Lied’

For many people, the experience of student life in a new country can be an extremely novel one, filled with both delight and challenges, and when talking to their family back home, it’s easy enough to fabricate the odd white lie sometimes about the harder bits of life. In the case of Brooklyn-based designer Ian Chen, his studying experience was no different. But, during his time in the US – moving to Maine in 2015 for high school before shifting to Chicago for college – he became aware that what he was experiencing in daily life and what he told his parents were two completely different things. “I maintained regular FaceTime conversations with my parents, often two or three times a week,” he explains. “This routine was a vital connection to my family, but it also highlighted a fascinating aspect of communication – the tendency to share only the positive aspects of our lives while concealing the more challenging or unpleasant experiences.” As a result, he created his book, ‘Sorry Mom, I Lied,’ to better understand this duality and contrast the lies and truths told over the years and the conversation between two cultures, through the use of two language systems – Chinese and English. The structure of the book portrays this in its design, with Chen opting to present twelve distinct lies and truths that stood out to him as particularly significant moments in his life over the past years. “Each of these instances became a chapter in the book,” he notes, “allowing for a comprehensive exploration of both sides of the narrative.” The content itself, “from some of my achievements and personal milestones to the lows of challenges and disappointments,” spans an array of emotions and experiences, with each chapter featuring the lie Chen told his parents and then letting the reader in on the truth. Accompanying this are visual elements such as bespoke illustrations and a photograph taken at the respective moment that the chapter delves into. The editorial design of the book was influenced by Chen’s desire to evoke a hand-crafted quality – “as if it were a physical artefact from my own experiences.”