Fast paced, bustling and colourful, Hong Kong is an incredible city with one of the largest population densities in the world. The city squeezed open some room for my team and myself to settle in. Living in an ancient rural village a fair way from the centre, we found ourselves daily navigating the public transport to partner with various charity/NGO initiatives in the heart of the city. As we walked along the busy streets we got caught up in the pulse of the throbbing neon signs held in contention with the ancient practice of simple farmers markets. In this tension and as I spent time getting to know the area, I began to question the powerful force of consumerism that seems to drive so much of the city. In and through some art I placed in the urban environment I sought to give permission for people to pause in the face of this relentless pace and question the validity of materialism’s claim that more stuff = better life.
Partnering with some Nepalese friends in the city, we met, fed and befriended some of the large homeless community that live under the cities roads. Forming make-shift homes out of found materials, these guys sleep surrounded by the smog and lights of busy city traffic. In a city brimming with plush new developments there seemed to be a hugely harsh and unfair contrast between rich and poor. I decided to take the same art piece and place it in the context of our new homeless friends to channel their frustrations into a voice to those in passing cars. How in a city seemingly so brimming with wealth, do people like us get forgotten, and ignored?
