Asian contemporary artists interpret the number eight and its meaning, from gossip and fortune to rebirth and regeneration

Eight artists’ works at the Interpr8 exhibition at Hong Kong’s A2Z Art Gallery cover subjects including double standards in Hong Kong censorship, the dark side of President Duterte’s war on drugs, and Catholic themes of rebirth

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Hong Kong artist Vivian Ho with her artwork Gossip at the A2Z Gallery in Central. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 9:48am, 12 Aug 2018Updated: 9:48am, 12 Aug 2018

In Vivian Ho’s work Gossip, the young artist makes a valid point about censorship in Hong Kong and the broader media landscape.

“I was making a comment about the gossip culture of this city … people gossip a lot and forget very quickly,” she says as she walks around the A2Z Art Gallery in Central, where her piece is part of a collective exhibition, “Interpr8”, that runs until September 12.

Ho’s work is an exact copy of an issue of popular local Hong Kong gossip magazine Face that was promoting stories about homosexuality, prostitution and group sex. Ho does not have a problem with those topics – her issue is with Hong Kong’s Obscene Articles Tribunal that in July censored the Chinese-language edition of Killing Commendatore, the latest book by Japanese author Haruki Murakami, one of Ho’s favourite writers.

The book was classified “Class II – indecent materials”, meaning it can only be sold in bookshops with its cover wrapped in plastic and a notice warning buyers – who must be 18 or over – about its contents. The novel was also pulled from the Hong Kong book fair.

“The book talks about how a vagina assaults a penis – it’s like one or two lines. And it was censored after just one day? It took me two weeks to read the book so it’s obvious the censors made that decision without reading it.

“So now it’s only sold in a plastic cover, but this [Face] magazine,” she says pointing to her work, “this was sold everywhere in Hong Kong.”