Covid-19 inspired art imagines Van Gogh and Frida Kahlo wearing face masks – exhibited at Alisan Fine Arts, the historic gallery tracing Hong Kong culture for 40 years and counting

For some, time is the hands and numerals on a watch. For others, it is defined by the events in one’s life. Hong Kong gallerist Daphne King-Yao belongs to the latter category.

“When I think of time, I think of the passage of time, especially when I think of my life, both work and personal. I think of milestones,” says King-Yao when we meet at her gallery, Alisan Fine Arts.

There was 1997, the year of the handover of Hong Kong, and King-Yao’s first year at Alisan Fine Arts. There was 2011, when she officially took over the reins of the gallery from her mother, Alice King, who founded the venture in 1980. There was 2018, when she and her husband celebrated their 20th anniversary. There will be 2021, when Alisan Fine Arts turns 40.

Not that King-Yao grew up setting life goals. She didn’t feel a career in art was a given – despite growing up around it. “If you were to ask the 20-year-old me, would I have a career in a gallery? I don’t know,” she says with a laugh. After reading history at the University of Pennsylvania, she spent the first five years of her career at creative agencies DMB&B and Ogilvy before deciding to join Alisan Fine Arts in 1997.

Alongside the exhibition were five monographs, which the gallery published to honour artists Zao Wou-ki, Lui Shou-kwan, Chao Chung-Hsiang, Walasse Ting and Chu Teh-chun.

Archiving is important to King-Yao: “I always make a point to publish a catalogue of our shows, even in the digital era, so 20 years later, we can say: we did this. There’ll be a trace.” It’s something that she inherited from her mother, who has a master’s degree in library science. “My mother kept all exchanges between the gallery and its artists. She had everything filed, she was very meticulous about it,” she says.