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Photographs that pay homage to Hong Kong cinema heyday paired with post-punk band at M+ museum event

  • Vancouver-born Canadian photographer Greg Girard shot Hong Kong cinema luminaries such as Wong Kar-wai and Chow Yun-fat on film sets in the 1980s
  • Hong Kong’s M+ museum of visual culture is presenting a selection of these images together with a performance by post-punk band Gong Gong Gong in May

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Chow Yun-fat and Cherie Chung film a scene in Tsim Sha Tsui for The Eighth Happiness in a photograph shot by Canadian Greg Girard. A collection of his 1980s Hong Kong film set photos will be presented in “Greg Girard: Hong Kong Made Me” at M+ museum. Photo:  M+/Greg Girard

Canadian photographer Greg Girard is paying homage to his beloved Hong Kong in May with a one-day live event comprising a photography exhibition that also includes a performance by an experimental post-punk band with a loyal following in the city.

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“Greg Girard: Hong Kong Made Me,” which takes place on May 11 at the M+ museum of visual culture in West Kowloon, showcases Girard’s photos, many taken in the 1980s and 1990s, alongside archival materials from other Hong Kong film-set photographers.

The collection recalls the heyday of the city’s film industry and highlights the often-overlooked artistry of still photography in film production.

Girard, who will give opening remarks at the May 11 show, first visited Hong Kong in 1974 as a 19-year-old. He was instantly “hooked” on the “mesmerising city”, he told the Post in a 2017 interview and, after roaming the region, and making regular visits to the city, he settled in Hong Kong in 1982.
A Hong Kong cafe scene captured by Canadian photographer Greg Girard’ and featured in his M+ show. Photo: M+/Greg Girard
A Hong Kong cafe scene captured by Canadian photographer Greg Girard’ and featured in his M+ show. Photo: M+/Greg Girard
During the 1970s and 80s, Girard documented Hong Kong’s social and urban landscape, publishing photo books dedicated to them, such as City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City in 1993. Much later, he published more of them in HK:PM, Hong Kong Night Life 1974-1989 in 2017.
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