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Colourful past: Hong Kong artists use AI software to transform 1950s photo into life-size image for Central Market display

  • Original black and white photo of two fishmongers behind market counter restored, colourised using software trained by processing millions of images
  • Urban Renewal Authority unveils display on Monday, with plans for interactive installation to be revealed later on

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A team of artists working for the Urban Renewal Authority has restored a 1950s photo using AI-based software and turned it into a display at the Central Market. Photo: Jelly Tse
A tattered photo of a fish stall at Hong Kong’s Central Market from the 1950s has been restored using artificial intelligence-based software and turned into a life-size wall display at the 84-year-old building to mark the second anniversary of its reopening.
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The original black and white photo provided by the Hong Kong Museum of History featured two fishmongers standing behind a counter piled with chopped-up fish, the Urban Renewal Authority said.

The life-size restored image, laid out on the wall of a restored fish stall on the market’s ground floor, was unveiled to the public on Monday.

“The picture was very tattered and blurry when I first received it,” said Victor Wong Wang-tat, the award-winning digital and special effects artist who lead the authority’s restoration project.

The original photograph featuring two fishmongers selling their wares at the Central Market. Photo: Jelly Tse
The original photograph featuring two fishmongers selling their wares at the Central Market. Photo: Jelly Tse

Wong and his team trained the AI-based restorative software using millions of photographs, teaching the system how to fill in any blanks or damage to the image to create a highly detailed, colourised version.

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