Documentary photographer Chun Wai’s favorite book is One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which is a rich and brilliant chronicle of the rise and fall of civilization as well as of life and death. Therefore, he chose a photo that he took in Burma as the opening picture in his photo collection. From this picture, one can see leafy trees casting shade covering the run-down gate of a mansion clinging to its former glory.

Once this gate is opened, the collapse of civilization is unfolding before one’s eyes: pictures of the Philippines suffering cultural and social damages inflicted by colonialism, Cambodia in abject, grinding poverty, and Iran in a turmoil of frequent coups d'état. These pictures combine to illustrate a map of Asian countries left with persistent scars.

The photographer vividly portrays in documentary form the current situation of vulnerable groups in the Philippines. This image is also his inner monologue about mundane matters, showing a calm and peaceful photographic language that holds a subliminal and implicit appeal. In 2011, this work was a prizewinner in the photojournalism category in Hong Kong's Annual Human Rights Press Awards.

About the Artist:

Hong Kong-born Chun Wai studied art in France. While adopting contemporary Western artistic styles to present traditional Eastern aesthetic concepts, he obtained a Master’s degree, Diplôme National Supérieur d'Expression Plastique (DNSEP), from the French Ministry for Culture, and then opened an art studio in France.

Chun Wai is now a lecturer of an advanced photography course at the HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education. In 2011, he established Health in Action, a Hong Kong-based non-profit organization dedicated to providing humanitarian aid to countries in Asia.