Coming up at AO Vertical Art Space in Chai Wan starting end of October is 'Hong Kong Memoirs'; Ho Fan's latest body of work. By overlapping and superimposing old negatives Mr Ho's imagery achieves a surreal aspect. The notion of abstraction, already prevalent in his older work is pushed to a whole new level. A brand new book ‘Hong Kong Memoirs’ published by Asia One and Modernbook will be launched during the exhibition. For the occasion Mr Ho is intending to come back to Hong Kong, his favorite place on earth, for the first time in 10 years.
Ho Fan, nicknamed ‘the great master’ earned his fame as one Asia’s most beloved street photographers capturing Hong Kong in the 50’s and 60’s.
Ho Fan’s photographic career started in Shanghai at the early age of 14 when given his first twin lens Rolleiflex for his birthday from his father. Within the first year he won his first award. In 1949, at the age of 18, when Communism entered China, Ho Fan’s parents moved to Hong Kong where the young Ho Fan continued pursuing his love for photography.
Dubbed the ‘Cartier-Bresson of the East’ Ho Fan had the patience to wait for ‘the decisive moment’; very often a collision of the unexpected, framed against a very clever composed background of geometrical construction and texture. He also liked to create drama and atmosphere with backlit effects or through the combination of smoke and light. His favorite locations were the streets, alleys and markets around dusk when the sun would cast long shades or life on the sea.
What made his work so intensely human is his love for the common Hong Kong people; coolies, vendors, hawkers selling fruits and vegetables, kids playing in the street or doing their homework, people crossing the street… As per Mr Ho; ‘I love Hong Kong and I love Hong Kong people’’ He never intended to create a historic record of the city’s buildings and monuments; rather he aimed to capture the soul of Hong Kong; the hardship and resilience of its citizens.
Ho Fan was most prolific in his teens and 20’s and created his biggest body of work before he reached the tender age of 28. His work didn’t go by unnoticed at his time. He won close to 300 local and international awards and titles in his day through competing in the salons. His talent was also spotted by the film industry where he started out as an actor before moving to film directing until retiring at 75.
Ho Fan is a Fellow of the Photographic Society and the Royal Society of Arts in England, and an Honorary Member of the Photographic societies of Singapore, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, France, Italy and Belgium. During his long career he has taught photography and film making at a dozen universities worldwide. His work is in many private and public collection of which most notable are: M+ Museum, Hong Kong, Heritage Museum, Hong Kong, Bibliothèque National de France, Paris, France, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, USA, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, USA, The Cleveland Museum of Art, USA.
