Art Basel _the road less taken

Having worked at Ifas as an intern last year, this year i was called to once again help out with unloading, Lack of water,
Tools,
Ladders,
Planning
Patience
Strength
Sweating
loading overnight
Unloading 8-4pm
Unload and install 4-12pm

To the Dream Land_Part 1

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Whenever I see or hear anything about Disney, I cringe… My sisters and I grew up watching Disney’s animations yet we never owned any toys/ anything that’s related to Disney.  May be it’s the idea of perfect happy ending in every single animation seemed too unreal to the point where I don’t feel any connections to it. Or may be I just never really liked the characters…

We were given an opportunity to visit Disneyland for a field trip and I thought- What a great opportunity to photograph tourists! I’m not a big fan of rides, let alone characters from Disney; but one thing I’m fascinated with is how tourists react to this space and I wanted to find out what kind of people go. People always complain about the amount of mainland tourists in Disney and since this opportunity is being offered, I loaded my film camera and prepared for this journey!

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We arrived at the station around 12 and I was surprised by how empty the space was and how little people there were! I really like the design of the train station, somehow I was reminded of Paddington train station back in UK… May be it’s the roof structure…

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I love photographing tourists, they are always different to who they are. Kids dressed up as princesses, adults dressed up to pose in front of cameras to remember their time spent in this particular place. I’ve always wondered whether those smiles are genuine especially when we were waiting in a humid grey day, us stinking of mosquito repellent and holding umbrellas incase of occasional rain.

Photographs seem to have the ability to eliminate certain aspect of experiences. 

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We got our maps and decided to walk straight to space mountain since it’s the closest to the entrance. We  walked past the entire ‘street’ of shops on the way, deep down I thought CLEVER tactic Disney, what a great way to encourage tourists to spend their money! Nikki actually told me that even though there are less tourists in Disney annually, they receive more income than Ocean Park! There are a lot of opportunities for tourists to spend money wherever you walk, a bottle of water cost $25 and a meal is roughly $70-80. If you want to spend less in Disney, bring your own bottle of water!

To be Continued…

Wu Kai Sha

Hong Kong is a hub that attracts tourists to flock in for the food, shopping, and business opportunities everyday.  It has become overpopulated over the last 50 years and shortage of land became one of the biggest issues for Hong Kong.

Reclamation was popular within the Victoria Harbor as it runs between Hong Kong and Kowloon Island.  Recently, the Hong Kong Government decided to move beyond Victoria Harbor and proposed to reclaim 25 different sites. Wu Kai Sha was selected as one of the reclamation upon natural but not protected shoreline.

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Back Garden for City Dwellers

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Residential developments began to grow rapidly within the Wu Kai Sha area, a peaceful view that once contained only mountains, trees and water; is now covered by gigantic building blocks. I was especially disturbed with the newly built residential area- Double Cove because not only were they tall, they were also in black and sharp orange color. The color scheme almost kill the picturesque natural landscape, it simply doesn’t belong to where it sits.

People who can afford to buy the units won’t be that bothered about the exterior because what this particular development sell is THE VIEW. Hence the chinese name ‘迎海’- ‘Facing towards the sea’. With this idea in mind, I can already imagine many more developers wanting to have a piece of land nearby Wu Kai Sha and obtaining more of this “view”.

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Can you Imagine what this photograph will be like without the dark mass from behind?

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Through this Project, I’d like to record the use of the shoreline by people at different times. To gain better understanding of people who spend their time at the beach or in the water. Social activities in this area are unique as this shoreline offers a relaxing breathing space for city dwellers. Wu Kai Sha is special to me in particular because it is where I live close to and I’ve seen changes throughout these 5 years that I wish never happened.

The Hong Kong Government’s plan for reclaiming this area further shows their cunning business mind, moving away from the city hub and hoping to develop a “new city” in Wu Kai Sha. Many people have signed petition against Government’s plan to reclaim the shoreline of Wu Kai Sha. Do we have the right to protect the natural landscape we have in Ma On Shan or everything won’t matter in the end because the government holds the ‘ultimate power’? I hope, in time as this project progress; more people will become more aware of the environment we live in.

Will this natural shoreline be gone in 5/10/15->? years? No one can be certain, but I hope the young generation our time can become more aware of the natural environment that is still around us. Learn to protect what we are freely given before these landscape vanish and can only find traces in photographs. Is the government’s plan to reclaim this area, an easy way out to solve issues with over population in the short term? If the plan go ahead, would it be considered unsustainable development since the government will be creating more waste and destroying a natural habitat? Why destroy a beautiful area when they could take down the old buildings within the city and create new ones?

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Should we preserve the natural environment we live in now or try to amend when all is gone?

Final Print

We got feedbacks from HKHP a few days ago and had to finalized the images into files that will be suitable for printing as postcards. When we finalize the chosen images, we had to set crop and bleed masks for printing. I’ve screen printed the stages to remind myself how to do it in the future

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The Beauty of Pumpkin Seed

Large Format 4×5
The Beauty Of Pumpkin Seeds
Hong Kong 2013

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My father started planting pumpkins a few weeks ago; none of us paid much attention to this new member, unlike my father who looks after all of his plants attentively everyday.

I was up on the roof top photographing his gardening tools and noticed the invasion of curly vines. It was fascinating to see these curls holding onto the nearest pole; it looks like they danced overnight and twirled themselves at least 10 times round the support. They may look thin and fragile but they are the lifeline of the pumpkin plant as all nutrients pass through it to get to the leaves and fruit. Its existence reminds me not to underestimate the hidden potential of anything by their appearance.

This photograph reminds me of a particular parable in the Bible. And perhaps in my subconscious mind, I wanted this photograph to reflect the seed that fell on good soil that it may produced a crop- a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹ ”

Matthew 13 v 3-8

May it grow strong and fruitful with sturdy roots, so it will not be swayed or damaged easily in challenging weather.

Kowloon Mosque

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Using the old reference photographs, the past and present is emerged together into one showing the change in location and appearance in the Kowloon Mosque. It used to situate where the current TST police station is now, but due to MTR construction in 1970, the structural condition of the old building was affected. They then built another one in 1984 with the compensation from the MTR and donations from different people.

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I’ve also added a present element into this piece of work as what stands in front of the mosque is a row of bus stops. The bus stops becomes the new architecture of the site in the present.

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One of my favorite part of the building is the intricate details on the facade, the patterns are beautiful and I love the shape of each frame. As I walk around the building, I wonder what are the people doing behind these design.

As I was searching for reference that shows the interior of the mosque, this photograph by Xin Li 88 caught my eye. I love the silhouette against the facade creating a stark contrast. This photograph inspired me to create a piece of work based on interior and exterior using the printing method I’ve done previously.

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I love the textural quality from the print. The interior and exterior is combined and duplicated so to echo the facade I saw during my visit.
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I love how the result came out, especially how the figures are looking into the white space. The facades look like they are opening to reveal what is within.

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Too much red ink is transferred during process; so I decided to alter the color of the facade as well as adding colors to the roof top.

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Using the architecture details such as the roof top of the building and beautifully decorated facade to construct a space for the mosque. The design acts as an invitation to the golden gate to reveal how believers worship, providing locals a glimpse of the sacred space.

St Teresa’s Church- Interpretation

Passage of Time is the topic of the brief, I’ve done some experimentation on the idea of Past & Present… The idea is not particularly original but worth experimenting anyways. I was experimenting with blender to create a textured atmosphere to create a sense of memory. Memory can be incredibly vivid and at the same time can be  fuzzy for some; by having the design in this style, I hope it can evoke people’s feelings to St Teresa’s Church.

What the building meant to them and what particular memory is vivid for them.

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Concept: Found imagery around the site

Experiments

Experiments

The window design is unique in this church. The colors on these windows is different to other churches in HK.

Existing building now

The angel call

I love the working method of using the blender in my sketch book. The textured quality reminds me a little bit of fresco painting. Erosion in time and space.

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Another thing I love about the church is that it has a water fountain area. It’s beautifully decorated and when I was walking around the area, Matthew 11:28 came to my mind. ²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. There were a few people sitting there while I was documenting the place, some were resting and some were praying. Creating postcards of architecture may not evoke people’s reaction as they may not be interested in the design of the building. So I thought how about showing a place people can connect to emotionally? A place where they used to contemplate, rest their mind and have a connecting time with their God?

 

Double exposure is used to combine the mosaic wall and the water feature together, I hope to evoke a sense of contemplation and peacefulness.

Positive Film- 135mm
St Teresa’s Church
Hong Kong 2013