Memory and Fiction
Blindspot Gallery
Jan 11 to Feb 4
During the 1980s and 90s, when nothing was going to get in the way of progress in this city, least of all a few derelict old buildings, Wong Wo-bik went to a number of historical landmarks that were soon to be torn down and took photos.
Her mission wasn't so much to document history as to capture, and sometimes reinvent, stories behind these places she visited.
'Today, we talk a lot about preserving our collective memory but that wasn't my intention then,' the photographer says. 'My interest was in the architecture of some of these historical buildings and the stories behind the people who owned these decrepit properties.'
A selection of photographs that Wong took over three decades, including images of long-gone places such as Lai Yuen Amusement Park and the castle-like family mansions of businessman Eu Tong Sen, will go on show at Blindspot Gallery in Central this week.
The retrospective is inspired by a book on Wong's work (Hong Kong/China Photographers Four - Wong Wo Bik) that was published by Asia One in 2009. Wong is one of the founding members of the Hong Kong Photo Festival and has been a museum adviser to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department since 1996. However, her works are not historical records as some of the photographs have been subtly altered and manipulated.