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SCMP Reporter

Nocturne
Alfred Ko
Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre
Ends Jun 9
In his first solo exhibition in 11 years, photographer  Alfred Ko shuns the familiar, busy Hong Kong of daylight hours in favour of the city at night, bathed in its own light.
He takes a formal approach to his subject: there's no clever manipulation of the images, nor are there  the time-exposure streaks of car headlights on urban motorways or splashes of garish neon. Instead, his black and white photographs, shot over a decade on analogue and digital cameras, are understated works that explore a quieter, more atmospheric side of Hong Kong.
Ko's images pick up on detail that we pass by in the hustle of the day and are strong on the play of light and darkness. In one, white residue from water run-off marks a concrete embankment. In another, trees cast long shadows on a wall in Mong Kok.  Ko transforms  his home city into a noirish film set against which the viewer is invited to imagine any number of dramas being played out. It's tranquil yet menacing, all looming shadows, unearthly light and eerily empty spaces.
Ko's nocturnal Hong Kong is a city in which evidence of human activity abounds, but from which people are almost entirely absent. It's as if the characters in those dramas  have walked off the set. Their enigmatic absence, which compels the viewer to scrutinise the deserted scenes before them as if for clues, is what makes some of Ko's images so haunting.
Some of the works are competent rather than inspired and some feel like studies in urban geometry. The dream-like quality of the best of Ko's vision, however, is  striking and will endure in the memory after this show closes.
Tue-Sun, 11am-10pm, Lumenvisum, Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre, L2-10, 30 Pak Tin St, Sham Shui Po. Inquiries: 9040 3877



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Nocturne