Why this Hong Kong illustrator depicts ‘beautiful’ factories, estates and crowded streets
John Ho shows what he thinks is Hong Kong’s true cultural identity by painting the buildings and streets that form the fabric of daily life
“Coming out of the airport, passing over Tsing Ma Bridge and seeing the sea – I realise I haven’t seen such a vast expanse of ocean in a long time,” he says. “It takes my breath away. But maybe people who’ve lived here their whole lives wouldn’t notice it.”
That sense of rediscovery – seeing home through fresh eyes after time away – is at the heart of Ho’s new exhibition, “100 Corners of Hong Kong”, at Ztoryhome in Sai Ying Pun. Open until August 23, the show brings together 100 of Ho’s illustrations of the city, roughly half of them created in the past few months, alongside older works spanning more than a decade.
“Every time I come back, Hong Kong feels so exciting,” he says. “There’s a strange sense of looking at it like a foreigner, from a different angle. That feeling is really strong.”
The exhibition focuses on what Ho believes is the city’s true cultural identity: its bustling, crowded streets, its ageing housing estates and the gritty industrial buildings that make up the fabric of daily life.