Stoic figures living with Hong Kong’s ‘new normal’ stand out in artist Vivian Ho’s absurdist postcards of the city
- The 12 illustrations in Vivian Ho’s solo exhibition ‘Wish You Were Here’ feature some of her favourite places in, and memories of, Hong Kong
- Full of giant creatures and surreal scenes, they are Ho’s way of ‘trying to bring out the ridiculous in Hong Kong, and how people kind of live and cope with it’
Hong Kong artist Vivian Ho Pok-yan’s latest solo exhibition, “Wish You Were Here”, presents a fantastical, cartoonish reimagination of her home city, replete with giant creatures and overgrown fauna that pop off the canvas in bright colours that grab you.
Always present amid the chaos are calm, reflective figures, their demeanour tinged with loneliness.
“I was trying to bring out the ridiculous in Hong Kong, and how people kind of live and cope with it,” Ho says.
“They are just living their own way of life and doing so without fear or stress, accepting that maybe this is the new normal.”
The 12 illustrations in “Wish You Were Here”, drawn by hand and then scanned and edited digitally, serve almost as personalised postcards from Ho. They offer snapshots of some of her favourite places in, and memories of, Hong Kong, and take their names from songs and books.
The exhibition at the Shout Art Hub & Gallery in Wan Chai will run until April 25.