Fight to preserve Hong Kong's protest-inspired street art
Fearing imminent police action, artists are striving to save Occupy-inspired works for posterity
Cultural workers are racing to save and archive creative works displayed at Occupy protest sites after city museums refused to help document the now world-famous artworks.
Several artists had already been documenting the various works around the Admiralty, Mong Kok and Causeway Bay protest sites when the High Court granted temporary injunction orders on Monday, calling for some areas to be cleared. Worried that police may act soon, artists redoubled their efforts, calling for more volunteers and saying Hong Kong must take responsibility to preserve the works.
The artists have had some high-profile support: one of Britain's leading museums is displaying some protest items and seeking more.
Artists Wen Yau, Sampson Wong Yu-hin and others have launched the Umbrella Movement Visual Archives and Research Collection, organising 60 volunteers to catalogue the works in Admiralty.
"This is the largest social movement Hong Kong has seen and now the most urgent [matter] is to rescue these objects for future research," Wen said.
Wong said the works - ranging from sculpture to posters - had sprung up because of the sudden opening of public space.