“Gallery by the Harbor” will co-operate with One Square Foot Gallery to hold “Hong Kong · In Motion” Photography Exhibition in September 2010 at Harbour City’s Gallery by the Harbour, showcasing approximately 20 captivating photographs from “Mist T” series by Elaine Liu (9-18 September), as well as “Landscape” and “One Square Foot” series by John Fung (19-26 September).
Elaine Liu: “Mist T” (9-18 September)
Elaine Liu is both Hong Kong’s leading jazz vocalist and an accomplished photographer specializing in black and white portraits and landscapes. Her latest series, “Mist T” , focuses on her greatest passion – trees.
For Elaine, music and the visual arts are related but different expressions of the same creative impulse – a love of nature, a fascination with light and shade, and a faith that beauty can be found and revealed at any time and in any place.
“I spend a lot of time in forests and country parks all over Hong Kong. I also find inspiration even in the middle of the city,” she says. “My aim is to glorify trees. They are magnificent – they have a powerful side and a gentle side, a strong/fragile, warm/cold, wet/dry side too. They possess so many variations of character.”
Elaine has a classic approach to photography, making ingenious use of natural light without artificial aids or digital enhancement. Some of her works have a tall, narrow format inspired by Chinese scroll paintings. She grew up in a traditional Chinese family, surrounded by paintings, music and poetry.
She shoots trees from different perspectives, carefully creating each composition. The sky, the negative space, is very important to make the subject stand out, as in a Chinese painting. She also loves to capture the intricate details of every branch, twig and tiny leaf. Some photographs are shot in mist, creating ethereal, inviting images.
Elaine derives great satisfaction from interacting with trees and creating her compositions. “I absorb everything that the trees give me and the photographs convey my own inner emotions. With music it is the same. There is poetry in composition, whether of music or photography.”
Details of <Photographs by Elaine Liu: “Mist T”>
Date: Sept 9-18, 2010 Time: 11am to 9pm
John Fung: “Landscape” and “One Square Foot” (19-26 September)
John Fung is a leading photographer on the Hong Kong art scene. After more than 20 years’ experience as a documentary photographer, both in Hong Kong and all over the world, in recent years he has evolved as an art photographer, focusing his camera lens on contrasting aspects of his home city of Hong Kong: the over-populated urban area and the peace of the countryside.
John Fung has earned wide acclaim for his “One Square Foot” series, which addresses the spatial problems of Hong Kong, one of the most congested cities in the world. While property developers reap huge profits, the price of a home is beyond the reach of many people. Through his photographs, John asks the question: How high can the price of one square foot of property go? Using multi-exposures and overlapping scenes from different angles, he creates a new perspective of the high-rise city - chaotic, unbalanced and surreal. His intriguing works portray Hong Kong as a society consumed by capitalism and greed. John’s work was originally inspired by personal experience: in 2006 he was living in a tiny one-room apartment with no window in Tai Kok Tsui – all he could afford in the city.
John Fung’s “Landscape” series, in contrast, aims to show people another way of living: in Nature. His images are reminiscent of traditional Chinese ink paintings; viewers may even doubt they are looking at photographs. Like an ancient Chinese literati painter, in his work John Fung emphasizes a more spiritual existence, away from the mundane matters of everyday life. He shot his “Landscape” series through the open window of a minibus in the New Territories, using a very slow shutter speed to capture the natural world passing by. The images are not computer-enhanced but are transformed by the movement. His message is a powerful one:
“Mankind no longer has any respect for Nature. Industrialization has caused the global warming we face today. When people look at my photographs, I want them to feel as if they are inside Nature. I want to open their eyes and minds to its beauty.”
Details of <John Fung: “Landscape” and “One Square Foot”>
Date: Sept 19-26, 2010 Time: 11am to 9pm
