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I Took 1,000 Photos Of Hong Kong’s Old Shop Signs And I Have Been Learning Chinese To Create This Visual Poetry
I have been exploring all the older districts of Hong Kong to capture all the aging traditional Chinese characters of shops' signboards and buildings' name that I found visually striking. I believe that the marks of time on these old characters bring another depth of meaning to each of these words which I then assemble to create artworks that sound poetic both lyrically and visually.
From 7 June to 7 July I will exhibit this visual poetry in Blue Lotus Gallery in Hong Kong to share how these old words are real art for me.
More info: Instagram
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'Emerging Culture' (新興文化), I believe that all new emerging culture is made of a fragment of cultures preceding it.
The Chinese words '勵行' literally means 'Make efforts to cultivate oneself’. I believe that just like these damaged characters, we have to carry out great efforts and go through plenty of hardship in order to cultivate ourselves.
'Turning Stone Into Gold' (點石成金), this Chinese idiom reflects well my intention: collecting old and ignored characters in order to create unique artworks.
'Forgotten Garden', the character 'garden' (園) being covered by plants taking over the past boundaries of the abandoned garden.
'Boundless Happiness', the characters '福和東海' are a famous idiom meaning literally 'Happiness as large as the Eastern Sea'.
'Love Home' (愛家), I have been living in Kowloon for 9 years so for me home is where the neons are.
'The Nine Dragons', 9 times the character 'dragon' (龍) referring to the name of Kowloon '九龍' meaning literally '9 dragons'. Kowloon is the densest part of Hong Kong with the biggest concentration of older buildings and neons signs. It has been my home now for over 9 years.
'A Hundred Pains Forge Talent' (百苦成材), a beautiful Chinese short poem that I find very meaningful.
'Hong Kong Culture' (香港文化) is mostly vibrant in its old districts which are disappearing at a fast pace due to the city's gentrification.
'Objets d'Art' (精品), for me these old and eroded characters are like pieces of art. They were designed by men to be informative, but time is maturing them to become something with a deeper meaning.
'Be Original' (有新意), even old things can be original and seem new after enough time passed.
