PHOTAUMNALES

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A partnership DIAPHANE/ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE/HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PHOTO FESTIVAL

2016 new AFlogohkipf recadre

with the support of
The Arts Development Fund of Home Affairs Bureau, Gouvernement de la Région administrative spéciale de Hong Kong
and
The
  hkadc
Le Hong Kong Arts Development Council encourage pleinement la liberté d'expression artistique. Les idées et les opinions exprimées dans l'exposition n'engagent en aucun cas la responsabilité du Conseil


LOVE HONG KONG
Photographs from Hong Kong (1950-2015)

Curated by Ann Mak and Fred Boucher


With :
HO Fan, CHAK Wai Leung, YAU Leung, LAU Ching Ping, Vincent YU, WONG Wo Bik, Dan LEUNG, Eason TSANG, LAU Wai


8 October - 31 December 2016
Opening on Saturday 8 October at  2.30 pm
LE QUADRILATÈRE
22 rue Saint-Pierre à BEAUVAIS - Phone : 0033 344 15 67 00 (week) / 0033 344 15 30 30 (week-end)
from Tuesday to Friday, 12am-6pm - Saturday and Sunday, 10am-6pm

Closed on 25 December



 
HO Fan 何藩

HOFAN BD 01Courtesy Ho Fan and Blue Lotus Gallery

What made his work so intensely human is his love for the common Hong Kong people. As per Mr Ho; “I love Hong Kong and I love Hong Kong people“ He never intended to create a historic record of the city’s buildings and monuments; rather he aimed to capture the soul of Hong Kong; the hardship and resilience of its citizens.

Dubbed the “Cartier-Bresson of the East“ Ho Fan patiently waited for ‘the decisive moment’; very often a collision of the unexpected, framed against a very clever composed background of geometrical construction and texture. His approach was cinematic enhancing daily life’s drama through backlit effects or through the combination of smoke and light. His favourite locations were the streets, alleys and markets around dusk.

Ho Fan (1931-2016), nicknamed ‘the great master’ earned his fame as one Asia’s most beloved street photographers capturing Hong Kong Ho Fan in the 50’s and 60’s.
 

CHAK Wai Leung 翟偉良

WAI LEUNG BD 03Courtesy Chak Wai Leung“The people of Hong Kong are increasingly aware of the need to protect cultural relics, their collective memoires being an important topic of discussion. For the eldest, they serve as milestones marking their experiences; for the young, they provide a glimpse of the ground covered by their ancestors, however remote and irrelevant these may seem.
This memory is not only made up of historic buildings, but captures a moment in the history of our society and its people.
While workers strive away at their tasks, and industries come and go, and tools, clothes and articles blur into the past.
The photographs are moving with regard to what used to be, and express the difficulties and efforts of past society, thus adding greater appreciation for modern progress with more intense hope for the future.”

Chak Wai Leung was born in Dongguan, in Guangdong province, in 1942. He started off in photography when he was still a child. Aside from photographic assignments and trips abroad, he likes working in the darkroom in his home, developing black-and-white and colour films.
His work can be seen in the Hong Kong Heritage Museum.

History disappears like smoke in the wind,
The memories on the photos, luckily, do not fade,
Turning isles into imposing cities, in our minds,
Their past efforts shall have no end.



YAU Leung 邱良

LEUNG BD 02Courtesy Yau Leung and Sylvia NgThe photographs of Yau Leung present a record of life in Hong Kong in the 1960s and 70s. These places were those where he was born and grew up. His images, both lively and mischievous, reflect all kinds of everyday life situations in Hong Kong society of the time. They capture life among the working class with sober and distinctive exaltation.
These images are historic details of the “living”, the reflection of an era. They allow us to savour a time that has gone, to feel the past splendour of this life and these far-off scenes. The images are full of humanistic attention and contemplation. They transport us to another world in time and space, like the homecoming of a traveller after years of absence. Faced with these distant images, we get the feeling we recognise parents or friends.

Born in Hong Kong in 1941, Yau Leung is considered one of Hong Kong’s most significant and accomplished documentary photographers. In parallel to working as a photographer for studios and editor for photography magazines, Yau Leung continued with his lifelong project photographing Hong Kong until the time of his accidental and untimely death in 1997.



LAU Ching Ping 劉清平
Last Glimpse of Hong Kong

CHINGPING BD 02Courtesy Lau Ching PingThe thin air, though invisible to our eyes, weknow of its existence. The air of a city, generally considered as the spirit of the city is also invisible but exist and alive within us.
Sixteen years has passed since the return of sovereignty right to China, people of Hong Kong came across the centennial level of adversities and thought that doomsday had come. From 1997 onward, principal official’s accountability system, mother tongue tutoring, Asian financial crisis, SARS epidemic, 1st July rally, Lehman brothers, 2008 financial tsunami, HSBC share price collapse, bird flu, moral and national education, air and light pollution…
Today, to the people of Hong Kong, if a so call doomsday, would certainly be the decay of the spirit of Hong Kong, though invisible, stay aloof besides us.
If ever I have the chance to witness the last glimpse of piercing white light before the doom of Hong Kong, I hope that people of Hong Kong from every walks of life, with their limited days on earth, resolve with wilfulness to live. Say goodbye to the outermost city of South China.

Lau Ching Ping, lives in Hong Kong. Creative work on photography, design and education. Co-editor of «Dislocation» magazine, Committee member of HK international photo festival. Part-time lecturer of the CUHK and HKU Space and Lumenvisum. Curator of Gallery Z.

 

Vincent YU 余建偉
Mc Refugees in Hong Kong

YU BD 01AP Photo/Vincent YuThe lonely death of a Hong Kong middle-aged woman who appeared to be sleeping slumped over a table in McDonald’s, has drawn attention on the city’s working poor and homeless people.
Dubbed as “McRefugees,” those who could not afford sky-high housing rentals and have nowhere to go, choose to spend their nights at the fast food chain’s 24-hour outlets, a location which offer them a clean, safe and free refuge rarely found in other places.
In a statement later, McDonald’s said they «welcome all walks of life to visit their restaurants anytime». They expressed sadness over the recent death, and said they would be «more accommodating and caring» to the people staying overnight, and ensured good services are catered to all customers.
Owing to the exorbitant private rents and bad living conditions in the city, a study finds 1614 homeless people in Hong Kong last year, marking a 14% increase from 2013. Among that total number of homeless people, 256 sleeps in fast food chains that open round the clock.


Born and raised in Hong Kong, Vincent Yu has worked as a photojournalist at the Associated Press and covering major news events across the Asia-Pacific region from 1989 until now.
His works have been recognized by many honours, including 2011 World Press Photo Awards 3rd Prize “People in the News” single category, 2013 Picture of the Year International Awards, Award of Excellence “ Photographer of the Year “. His works are collected by the Hong Kong Heritage Museum.

 

WONG Wo Bik 王禾璧
The Disappearance of "Lai Yuen Amusement Park", 1997

WOBIK BD 02Courtesy Wong Wo Bik"Lai Yuen Amusement Park was a grand view park for me when I was a child. During my second visit in May 1997, the park was facing dismantling fate. I did not aim at documenting historical records or a matter of nostalgia, but rather presenting a sense of being there. My photos are traces of emotive descriptions, and fragments are kept as images forever."


Wong Wo Bik obtained MFA Degree in USA. She was awarded ACC Fellowship, Hong Kong Women Excellence in the Six Arts.
Currently she is the Expert Advisor (Museums) of LCSD. Solo publications include: Color & Consent (Polaroid), Hong Kong/China Photographers – Volume Four – Wong Wo Bik. She has participated 100+ local and international solo and groups exhibitions. Works reveal cultural and artistic issues including city architecture and daily livelihood, conflict and balance, fabrication and reality. Works are collected by HK Heritage Museum, Guangdong Museum of Art, London’s Archive of Modern Conflict.



Dan LEUNG 梁譽聰
Blitz

DANLEUNG BD 01Courtesy Dan LeungAs usual, we always identify a person by their ID photo. In this piece of work, the flashlight constructs an identity to the “ tiny character”. It represents he/she has escaped from the noisy city to find his/her own way.

The structure of the word “Blitz”「閃」in Chinese, shows a character「人」standing in the middle of the door 「門」. It represents the relationship and feelings between the city and me.

The Chinese word “Blitz” has the meaning of photographic. It represents the flashlight, which comes out from the camera when you press the button. And the scene that is flashed by the light seems to endow a unique value. In this piece of artwork, the target that I would like to “flash” is the tiny character that stands in the middle of the door「閃」.


Dan Leung finished a bachelor degree of fine art with major in photography, which cooperated with Hong Kong Art School and RMIT University. At the same time, he is also working in a related job of commercial photography. It serves as a driving force for him to think about photography in different point of view. 

 



Eason TSANG 曾家偉
Objectivity and Subjectivity

TSANGKAWAI BD 02Courtesy Eason Tsang and Blindspot Gallery

About Landmark
In this densely populated city, buildings move vertically up toward the sky. On these vertically extending planes, the artist found the hidden new landmarks of the city.

About New Landmark
The New Landmark series is an extension of Tsang’s past project Landmarkseries. Through the process of looking at the skyscrapers from an upshot angle, the artist started to observe closely the conditions of these landmarks in different times of the day and things happening in them.

About Rooftop
Rooftop is a public yet private space. Artist sneaked into the rooftop of a skyscraper and captured the bird eye views of the architectural structure and human activities on the rooftops of the surrounding buildings.

Tsang (b. 1986, Hong Kong) graduated from the School of Creative Media of City University of Hong Kong with a major in Photography in 2013. He has been working on various personal photography projects since 2011. In 2013, Tsang was shortlisted in the Hong Kong Contemporary Art Awards 2012 with his Rooftop series. His work is collect by Hong Kong Heritage Museum.
Tsang currently lives and works in Hong Kong.




LAU Wai 劉衛
This (from 2012 to currently)
Album (de 2014 to currently)

LAUWAI BD 03Courtesy Lau Wai

"From the beginning, the camera is used as one of the tools for me in communicating with my parents and our immediate surroundings. I realized that “home” has actually been a place that was both familiar and foreign to me. I do not have an adequate cognition of the past which my parents held before settling at this city, Hong Kong, as well as the cause of choosing ‘here’ to setup our home. What I did know was that the story begins not just with my parents, but with the generation before them.

I step into their past experiences and reminisce the lingering traces of their hometowns and memorable locations with my camera, at the same time, I attempt to read through the unfamiliar past of our family through the previously kept family albums.
This allows me to not only further understand my parents and the relationship between the past and the present, but also enables me to create an alternate way in interpreting and continuing a family visual lineage that spans across three generations."


Lau Wai (b. 1982, Hong Kong, China) currently lives and works in Hong Kong. She received her BA (Hons) Degree in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College, University of London, 2007 and was awarded the Warden’s Art Prize upon graduation. She is the finalist for Xitek 2014 New Photo Award (Beijing, China) and the 7th Three Shadows Photography Award 2015 (Beijing, China).
Past exhibitions include (selected): ‘Adrift’ - OCAT Shenzhen (Shenzhen, China, 2016), The 7th Three Shadows Photography Award (Beijing, China, 2015), Echigo Tsumari Art Triennale (Echigo Tsumari, Japan, 2015), ‘Imagine There’s No Country, Above Us Only Our Cities’, Para Site Art Space (Hong Kong, China, 2015),The 6th Dali International Photography Festival (Dali, China, 2015), Lianzhou International Photo Festival (Lianzhou, China, 2013 & 2014). She also participated in various exhibitions in the U.K. and her works were privately collected.