Finding God without the church: artist Tozer Pak on religion, harnessing art for good and loving Hong Kong

Tozer Pak stopped going to church but sees God’s work wherever he goes. He tells Kate Whitehead about using art to inspire young people with autism and ADHD

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Hong Kong artist Tozer Pak in Central. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Kate Whitehead

Published: 7:15am, 20 May 2023Updated: 7:50am, 20 May 2023

My parents are both from Fujian province in southeast China. My father moved to Hong Kong for work. In China, Hong Kong was seen as a city where your dreams could come true, it could be life-changing.

Initially, he worked at a Chinese products store and when my rich great-great-uncle, who lived in Singapore, opened the three-storey Sanki Department Store in Western district on Hong Kong Island, he began working there.

My father returned to Fujian and married my mother. I was the firstborn, in 1977, and then came my two younger sisters. I was brought up in a quiet rural village in Fujian and my father only visited us every couple of years.

In 1984, my mother and I moved to Hong Kong and lived with my father in a very small apartment. My sisters stayed behind and were looked after by our grandparents.

Tozer Pak (left) moved to live in Hong Kong in 1984. Photo: courtesy of Tozer Pak

After the freedom and space of growing up in the countryside, the living conditions felt very cramped.

After a couple of years in Hong Kong, my twin brothers were born – all of us living in one room – and a few years after that, my sisters joined us.