Why artist paints then-and-now scenes of Hong Kong? He could no longer recognise the city
When Chow Chun-fai could not find a crossroads in Mong Kok, it led him to produce paintings of street views that combine present and past
There are a few standard images of Hong Kong that can be found over and over again on postcards, in online search results and in movies.
Shot from The Peak or from the Kowloon waterfront, these tend to be formulaic, unchanging views featuring a dense forest of skyscrapers that stand in dramatic contrast to the green hills behind them and Victoria Harbour in the foreground.
But zoom in closer and the city is in a state of constant flux, so much so that even long-term residents struggle to find once-familiar corners of home.
A few years ago, artist Chow Chun-fai took a friend to Mong Kok, one of Hong Kong’s best known neighbourhoods, to show him one particular spot that he painted more than a decade ago – the intersection of Portland Street and Shandong Street.
He was so confident he could find it again that he did not bother checking Google Maps. As it happened, he could not locate the street corner.
“We ended up circling the block a few times and still couldn’t find it. As it turned out, we had already walked past the spot but the large overhead signboards had all gone. I had got lost in a place I thought I knew really well,” Chow says.
