Photography as tool of investigation, by Cliff Kwok

PaK Chai (栢齊)

•An local activist photographer

•Social invisible

•Old public housing, old streets

•Recent works:

•Queen’s Pier (皇后碼頭)

•Wedding Card street(喜帖街)


About the Queen's Pier

•built in 1925, by British Colonial Government

•Closed for land reclamation

•Completely demolished

Pak Chais' Concern

•Social function >> historical value

•Who use the pier (public space)?

•Camera as Investigation tool

–Took photo every 30minutes , 24 hours

Discovery from the photos

•Multiple functional

•Daily users:

–many different social groups for various activities

–Daily schedule (from morning to night)

•4-5 am underground exchanges

• 6am elderly practiced Tai Chi

•8am group of housewife enjoyed their fan dancing

•10am wedding couples taking photo

•12 pm construction workers enjoyed their lunch

•2pm old men drink beers and played Chess

•4pm foreign domestic helpers chatting

Consequences of demolishing the Pier

•Break social network, if the place they daily gather is destroyed

•10-minute walking distance from the town centre exclude social activities

Conclusion

•Photography as tool of investigation

•Function and Importance of public space

Discussion

•Do you think Public Space is important? Why?

•Do you think that Public Space can enhance social relation and communication?

•Do you enjoy Public Space? Where (parks, open plazas… )?

acknowledge: photos by Pak Chai

Kith Tsang-“Hello! Hong Kong-Part 3”by Lam Ka Lee, Carrie (1042512)

Concept behind “Hello! Hong Kong – Part 3”

"哈囉！香港 - 第三集這是【哈囉！香港】系列的第三集，亦即是第三件同 名作品。目的是提供一個閱讀本土歷史的途徑。這件 作品的參照來自去年年初我開始研究的中國節日慶典 儀式。作品的靈感來自我近日對海港（香港之源） 的思考。（曾德平）”


"Hello! Hong Kong - Part 3 This is the part III of the series "Hello! Hong Kong". It is also the third piece of work with the same title. The aim is to provide a way of reading local history. The reference of the piece comes from my study of Chinese festivals in Hong Kong early last year. The inspiration is my recent thought on the port, the origin of Hong Kong.”(Kith Tsang)

About the art work

~Primary materials: bamboo, sheets of galvanized iron
~A bamboo bridge to one side of it where may serve as a viewing position
~2 metres long papier mache(紙板) boat had been placed inverted
~2 slide projectors projected a sequence of photographic images onto the side of boat
~1 showed coloured slides of weathered wall surfaces and advertisements
~Another one showed blurred black and white images of construction in progress along the waterfront of HK harbour
~Projected images simultaneously, images were allowed to overlap

What tells from the required reading "Para/Site Space"

~Fragile upturned boat: recalled HK's habour
~Papier mache boat: local craft skills whose survival is endangered as older practitioners fail to find apprentices to continue their trade
~Nanyin: vanishing tradition, melancholy tone reinforced the sense of loss conveyed by the visual’s elements
~Weathered Surface shown in the projected images: associated with the past and its loss or erosion
~Photographs of the harbour into bottles: gesture of preservation , recalled the traditional method used for preserving beancurd and other food products

Conclusion

~“We sigh on seeing such for what accompany our growth are fast disappearing with the passing of time and the modernization of the city. I think Tsang is reluctant to let the past being ruthlessly wiped off. What he tries to do is to establish the local secular history and cultural sensibilities through the reconstruction of his memories and imaginations”
~“Memories and history come from the lost as well as from the preserved, just like a partly-buried old drawer can be seen as a partly-protruded old drawer.

Question

With more and more traditions and landmarks (like Star Ferry Pier) are disappearing in Hong Kong, what do you think can be done in order to maintain Hong Kong cultural identity as an artist and the public like you?

Reference

http://www.para-site.org.hk/_pre/96_kith1.html
http://finearts.hku.hk/hkaa/artists.php?artist_id=057=057
http://www.parasite.org.hk/_pre/edwin_lai.htm

10. Our home: Shek Kip Mei 1954-2006, Vincent Yu by wing li 1187219

Vincent Yu, a photojournalist, had captured a series of photographs of the old Shek Kip Mei Estate. His photos deliver not only the images of the old Shek Kip Mei Estate but also the collective memories that people have who used to live there. “Shek Kip Mei is gone. Images remain and our memory” is the main theme of the photographs. This paper is a detailed discussion of the history of Shek Kip Mei Estate and also the analysis of this series of photographs.

History of Shek Kip Mei

In World War II, many people left Hong Kong during the Japanese Occupation of 1941 to 1945. As Hong Kong stabilized after the war, people came back to their homes and people in Mainland China immigrated to Hong Kong because of evading from the Civil War. In only five years time, the population of Hong Kong surged from 600,000 to 2,000,000. With such a population surge, living conditions in Hong Kong were getting worse. Many returnees and refugees could not afford to live in proper homes, instead, they lived in squatter homes, often on the hillsides which were built with sheets of iron and pieces of wood. You could imagine those squatter homes were poorly built with no planning, not to mention fire service installations. At that time, fire accidents were common since Kerosene is being used for cooking which is dangerous and residents were lack of awareness of fire accidents. On Christmas Eve of 1953, there was a worst fire ever happened in Shek Kip Mei. Tens of thousands of people were made homeless overnight. All of their belongings and properties were gone in a sudden.

Living environment

The government could not turn a blind eye over such a tragic. They soon provided temporary shelter to the victims. The Public Works Department cleared up the affected area and built a series of buildings which known as the Bowring Bungalows within two months. The two-storey buildings with no washroom, no kitchen, and no running water were built in a hurry to accommodate the victims. Although the living conditions in Bowring Bungalows were poor and crowded as three families were living in a small flat, it was far better to roam and sleep on the street. The bungalows managed to provide temporary shelter to the victims but it was only temporal. In 1954, Urban Council suggested the government to build resettlement estates to provide long-term housing. Therefore, the very first public housing estate, Shek Kip Mei Estate, was eventually constructed. The eight six-floor buildings with flats of 120 square feet which have no partition, no water and electricity supply were planned to house five adults. Sometimes, 2 or more families were living in one single small flat. Residents have to share washroom and running water with people in the same floor. Quarrels are arguments were common among them. However, on the other hand, neighbours were in close relations as they took care of each other and shared the same identity with similar backgrounds. This was how people lived in Shek Kip Mei Estate.

Artist’s attempts

With the rapid growth and developments in Hong Kong, more and more decent housing have been built for the accommodation of the residents. The government decided to demolish obsolete Shek Kip Mei Estate in 2006 so that they can reestablish that area. Once it is being demolished, we would never see how people were living in the very first public housing estate, representing the milestone of Hong Kong Housing development. Vincent Yu, a photojournalist, were born and raised in Hong Kong who concerns the rapid development of Hong Kong. He noticed that something was vanishing in our city, something old but invaluable was eliminating by society. In this money oriented society, history, memories, heritage would never be on the top of the preference list. Shek Kip Mei Estate inevitably faced the truth of being demolished as its economic and social functions were being exhausted. There is no similar work was done to reserve the images of a place. Vincent thinks he should not sit and wait silently and let it be so he decided to visit the residents were still living there right before the demolition and took pictures of them. He tried to remain some vivid images through his camera. His invaluable book is a series of photographs of Shek Kip Mei Estate and also provided a brief description of the history of Shek Kip Mei Estate. Through these images and supplementary text, subsequent generations can have a sense of how Hong Kong had been changed from a small fishing village to now a famous cosmopolitan city.

Golden Chicken 2, by Jack

Introduction of Golden Chicken 2:
Chinese: 金雞 2 Year: 2002
Director: Samson Chiu
Producer: Peter Chan Ho SunMain
Character: Ng Kwun Yu


Story:
Divided into two parts:First part – Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS period)Second part- decade spanning romance between Kum and her cousin


Intention:
-mirrored and complemented the success and setbacks of recent HK history
-convey some positive messages to the HK people
-appreciating HK people‘s tough and hard working attitude
-celebrating the anniversary of HK’s 50th year under Mainland rule hanging over the territory head


Positive messages:
-‘bad memories are necessary, it only to make the good thing better’
-positive attitude to tackle problem during the tough period in HK


Appreciation of HK people:
-Each character have their own story
-Anthony Wong- perishes in the throes of passion
-Ronald Cheung- mentally deranges john who attaches himself a little too closely Kum’s life and her body hair
-Leon Lai- hunky doctor who’s batting SARS and his own fatigue
-Angelica Lee- regret that she left and didn’t take care for her husband-Kum put a tough, chipper face on everything and resolves to carry on.


Prefer everything remain constant within 50 years:
-Andy Lau as the chief executive‘the linkage rate of currency between US and HK remain 7.8:1
-prefer unchanging within the future years-especially the political system (independence)


Further Question:
Are there any other representation of this film that the filmmaker want to present to us? If yes, what do you think about the techniques he used for presenting these messages to us

Golden Chicken 2, by Tsz