WATCH: Street artists transform one of Hong Kong’s oldest neighbourhoods, Sham Shui Po

HKwalls, Hong Kong’s own grass-roots art festival, is bringing new life to Sham Shui Po, and hopes to give people a new reason to visit a district known for cheap rents, fabric stalls and electronics. But what will the neighbours think?

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A building owned by Jackaline Chow at 180 Tai Nan Street, Sham Shui Po and painted by Okuda from Spain for the HKwalls event. ‘I love beautiful things,’ says Chow of the decision to donate the builiding for the festival. Photos: Tessa Chan

Published: 6:15am, 25 Mar 2016Updated: 10:50am, 29 Mar 2016

While many art lovers are flocking to the year’s biggest art events in Hong Kong’s commercial heart, a different kind of art movement has been taking place across the harbour in the old working class district of Sham Shui Po.

Now in its third year, the annual street art movement HKwalls is bigger than ever, thanks to a partnership with urban fashion firm Vans, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

Watch: Street artists give a new look to Sham Shui Po

The first two HKwalls festivals were held in Sheung Wan and Stanley Market. “We always wanted to do something in Kowloon,” says co-founder Stan Wu. “Sham Shui Po is more than just electronics and old Kowloon vibes. It has a special heritage of crafts and culture.”

Wu admits that it wasn’t as easy to convince the tight-knit community to host the festival as it was people in more expat-centric areas such as Stanley Market. “It was a bit trickier at first, as they have not experienced an organised street art festival before and don’t know what to expect,” he says. “But we hope by doing something energetic and positive to the community, they can see we are really here to share our love for the arts.”