Millennial Vintage: the lo-fi, erotically charged analogue photographers on show in Hong Kong

The modern ubiquity of photography, and of the public sharing of photographs, makes this an interesting time for the medium as fine art. We’re all used to looking at lots of other people’s photos; it’s hard to sell something so widespread as being special enough to have value; and there’s a lot of clutter to cut through.

However, the exhibition “Millennial Vintage”, at Kong Art Space in Hong Kong’s SoHo neighbourhood from December 17 to 19, stands a good chance of cutting through it. A group show of work by six young photographers, presented by Budapest-born, London-based curator Tiziana des Pallieres, it showcases a bold, gritty, lo-fi, provocative, often erotically charged style of photographic art, paradoxically old-school in its aesthetic – hence the show’s title.

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The photographers, who appear under the banner of des Pallieres’ agency-collective Artizians, share a distinctly pre-digital approach to their work, including an interest in a return to analogue photography, and a 1970s and ’80s aesthetic in style and subject matter (“pastel-dreamy late-’70s California,” as des Pallieres describes it).

They are Denmark-born, Hong Kong-based Nicoline Aagesen; Casper Lundemann from Denmark; Victoria Lemus from the US; Sergio del Amo from Spain; Hong-Kong based Filipino Mherck Dela Cruz; and Italian Errico Fabio Russo.

Aagesen had a pivotal role in the birth of the project. “It all started when I brought a mixed-media show to Hong Kong in 2016, and met Nicoline,” says des Pallieres. “I needed a kick-ass photographer in Hong Kong, someone who’s very avant garde, and everyone pointed to Nicoline – she is very rock’n’roll in spirit, and she is not usually an event photographer.