The panel discussion invites researchers to discuss the use of photographs in their passion projects surrounding Hong Kong history and historical sites. Taking WMA Commission artist Sheung Yiu’s “everything is a projection” exhibition as a starting point, where the artist refutes the replicability of “home” that modern photographic processes promise, the two panellists, architectural computational designer Mono Tung and historian Dr Kwong Chi Man, will share the many ways photographs facilitated their historical research and visual production of Hong Kong in the past. In particular, Mr Tung will highlight his advocacy project on Bishop Hill Reservoir, and Dr Kwong on his “1941 Battle of Hong Kong: A Spatial History Project”. As photography becomes a tool not to simulate the present but to reimagine the past, what possibilities could it bring to our connection to the city?

The talk is moderated by Elaine Lin, director of WMA, and will be conducted in Cantonese.

Image: Screenshot of "Everything is a Projection" (2023) by Sheung Yiu, Single Channel Video, 17’00". Courtesy: Artist and WMA