‘Shifts Illustrated’: Hong Kong Baptist University class combines art and service in comics on city’s overlooked workers
- Students from service learning course have created illustrations highlighting shift workers such as lifeguards and convenience store workers
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Pat Wong (centre), an artist also known as Flying Pig, and her students Hester Lee (left) and Manson Leung hold copies of “Shifts Illustrated”. Photo: Handout For a long time, Hester Lee Sheung-yu thought being a lifeguard in Hong Kong was an easy job.
But after the 22-year-old student took part in a community-based art project earlier this year, her eyes were opened to the challenges facing lifeguards and the city’s other shift workers who are often undervalued.
“[Being a lifeguard] is actually a demanding job that requires not only the physical strength to rescue people,” said the student majoring in visual arts, “but also knowledge and experience in distinguishing between high and low tides, being aware of changes in weather and temperature, and working long hours.”
Hong Kong Shifts tells stories of city’s overlooked workers to build community
To educate people about those overlooked in society, Pat Wong Wing-shan, 33, a community-based illustrator and assistant professor at Baptist University, led eight students to connect with shift workers through art.
Wong’s illustration course collaborated with Hong Kong Shifts, a platform that publishes interviews with shift workers online. The professor assigned students to transform one of these jobs into a four-page comic that illustrates the lives of these unsung heroes.
This month, the students’ artworks were displayed at Form Society, a local creative space in Sham Shui Po. Their comics were also compiled in a booklet titled Shifts Illustrated. The project has been distributed for free in art spaces, cafes and some of the interviewees’ workplaces.
“These human-interest stories are invaluable. I want to share these experiences with students,” Wong said.
Bring art closer to society
In Wong’s class, each student was tasked with picking one job from Hong Kong Shifts’ platform. Then, they had to study the details of this work to create a nuanced and intimate portrayal of it.
For Lee, this project changed her view of lifeguards. Her 12-panel comic depicts scenes from their perspective. It shows the struggling hands of someone in danger and splashing water as they are rescued.
“I used to be afraid of swimming in the sea because I didn’t trust lifeguards to do their job and keep an eye on me. However, after observing them at the beach, I realised that they can see everything clearly,” she said.
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Another student, Manson Leung Ngo-hin, 20, recounted spending a few early mornings observing a convenience store worker. “This story caught my attention instantly because the worker said she had to monitor the shop late at night all by herself,” he said.
“Usually, we leave instantly after paying, and rarely do we consider the effort and hard work they put in.”
Leung’s comic highlights moments when workers restocked shelves as it is a tiring and time-consuming task. The artist used black ink for the items the worker is focused on – they stand out from the orange backdrop and help viewers step into the experience.
Though he is majoring in business administration, his love for doodling brought him to the art course.
“Now, I am certain that community-based art is the direction I want to pursue. I plan to collaborate more often with different community centres,” he added.
Heart of art
Wong believes that empathy lies at the heart of this project, and it fuels her own art journey.
The artist has spent the past eight years sketching different parts of Hong Kong and has taught art classes in Britain. But this was her first service learning course, which emphasises giving back to the community.
Besides sending her students to study shift workers, the professor also wanted her class to connect with the city’s disappearing culture.
In January, Wong brought her students to the now-closed Yen Chow Street Hawker Bazaar, Hong Kong’s oldest outdoor fabric market also known as “Peng Jai”.
Iconic fabric market in Hong Kong’s Sham Shui Po to close
The group talked to vendors and captured on paper what would not be preserved in reality. “Despite everyone being so busy, we were so surprised that they still took the time to talk to us,” Leung said.
At the fabric market, Wong also saw the impact that her own art had made on the community there.
“I sketched a shop eight years ago and visited the owner on their last day of business. The owner told me she didn’t want to take anything with her except for my painting,” Wong said.
For her next course, the professor shared that it might focus on gender issues.
She said of the class: “Rather than creating art in a studio, we ask ourselves the question: ‘How do we connect with people outside?’”
“It allows students to reflect on their interactions with others and deepen their experiences with people.”
Use our printable worksheet or online interactive exercises to test your understanding of this story.