Ghost signs resurrect bygone Hong Kong
The city’s fading past has become a passion project for a designer and photographer duo keen to share their otherworldly sightings
These kinds of sightings have become less common in Hong Kong, but once you’ve seen one, it’s hard not to see, and seek out, other examples of these palimpsest survivors of humidity, rain or repainting. They can be small or large, images on a wall or time-worn shop signs. And despite Hong Kong’s blistering rebuilding rate and the homogenising force that is the Urban Renewal Authority, there are still quite a few ghost signs around, if you know where to look.
Hongkonger Billy Potts, son of an English father and a Chinese mother, is a heritage writer, designer and my Kowloon City guide for the day. He is also an expert at spotting a bit of paint, a faint outline or part of an old affiche hidden by an air conditioner.
“A ghost sign …” he mulls, “people all over the world have their own definitions, but we’ve come up with one for Hong Kong that works for us: a sign where the original owner could not have possibly intended for it to look that way, or for us to see it now, at this time.”
Marans and Potts have now launched a virtual ghost-sign map, hkghostsigns.com, onto which others can add their own finds. After review, of course.