Hong Kong artist sheds light on immigrants’ stories to build understanding
Project at festival invites reflection on struggles of those seeking better life
Alex first fled his hometown in Iraq, ravaged by decades of conflict and sanctions, for Turkey. Then he journeyed to Cyprus, then back to Turkey, and eventually sought asylum in Hong Kong.
Alex’s gloomy story is one of five narratives that local artist Kingsley Ng Siu-king seeks to spotlight in his most recent art project, “Over the Ocean”, installed in Chater Garden in Central.
In Ng’s light projection project, the public can place on water paper boats carrying tea lights. The boats float in sync with five different songs based on the stories.
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“Light is often used not only as a medium, but also as a metaphor for making art and to cast light on the imperceptible, hidden or forgotten,” the 37-year-old Hong Kong native explains.
Ng, an assistant professor at Baptist University’s Academy of Visual Arts, is an interdisciplinary artist who tends to use more than one medium to illustrate his work. He describes working often with the ephemeral and intangible, such as light, sound, space and time.