Developed from broken parts of the Hong Kong map, this series of paintings recorded a first-person narrative about a prevailing myth of my hometown.  

In real life, maps are used to guide us to our desired destinations. Applying vigorous colours and spontaneous brushstrokes over fragments of the local street map, I, however, aimed at creating chaotic scenes with lost directions in order to depict the puzzling promises of the city’s future, which seems to continue to be a myth for many.

Reference: Street map of Central, the core financial and government area; and Shumshuipo, an old district with low income population.

The Map of A Myth I

This is a sequel to my representation of the continuous protests starting in mid-2019.  I first painted “Whirling Mass I” in August 2019 as protests escalated. "Whirling Mass II" was completed a year later when the social movement reached a deadlock. The painting reflects my introspection and self-questioning.
In this work, I painted some vines of varied obscurity, thicker or thinner, resonating with perpetual and undulating motion in the city. Vortexes all over the canvas, large and small, apparent or subtle, permit no escape from the all-engulfing situation.

Whirling Mass II

In my series entitled, “Hopscotching through Time,” each color block represents a numbered block in this children’s game. I’ve replaced numbers 1 through 10 with 1, 9, 6 and 5, the year in which I was born. If studied closely one can see in each painting smaller four-number sets, all more recent than 1965. These were personal benchmarks.
 
Time is often represented by numbers, daily, monthly and annually, for instance. A year could be perceived as simply a marker, with no significance, or it might represent the most important events a person experiences, something defining. Seeing a four-digit year, then, can prove a stimulating trigger or be devoid of meaning. 

The four pieces are to display my birth year left to right: 1, 9, 6 and 5. Though this is viewed as hopscotching across four blocks, it is not intended to be viewed as ‘in one piece’. Rather, each block in this sequence has its own character.
 
“Hopscotch #1,” the first painting, is a depiction of some far distant moment in life.
 
For “Hopscotch #9, my second square, I asked myself: how significant are major historical events to an individual? What about  from 1842 to 2046? A number of events depicted here may be tangential to some while others may feel hopeless or helpless. 
 
In the third square, I represent the status of an inescapable course of events with a big loop that depicts the number 6.
 
In Hopscotch #5,” my last square, I depicted the struggle between two forces: the constraint of history unfolding against the will of individuals to reject predetermination. These color blocks exhibit rock-like texture to represent a shaping force. Cloud-like strokes break solid color blocks into fragments, a symbol of individuals’ spontaneity and awareness.

Hopscotching Through Time 

Developed from broken parts of the Hong Kong map, this series of paintings recorded a first-person narrative about a prevailing myth of my hometown. 

In real life, maps are used to guide us to our desired destinations. Applying vigorous colours and spontaneous brushstrokes over fragments of the local street map, I, however, aimed at creating chaotic scenes with lost directions in order to depict the puzzling promises of the city’s future, which seems to continue to be a myth for many. 

Reference: Satellite map of Kowloon, in where 40% of Hong Kong population reside.


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KWONG Kwok Wai, Walter

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