The art of preservation: Sketching group records Hong Kong's disappearing heritage

It's a tough hike up Eastern Street in the summer heat. But once at the junction of High Street, by the Sai Ying Pun Community Complex, a large tree offers shade and artistic inspiration for a small group of urban sketchers.

Despite the stifling humidity, the members of Sketcher Kee eschew the immediate impressions of Instagram, preferring to familiarise themselves with the old neighbourhood and commit it to paper. With sketchbooks in their laps, the atmosphere is laid-back and congenial, as the sketchers joke with each other or ask to borrow materials.

The group was started in August last year by Cheung Wan-kay, who had previously taught life drawing for six years at City University. When he left, some of his students asked if they could continue drawing with him.

"The problem is that rent is expensive, and then you have to pay for a model. So I thought, why not go outside and use the outdoors as our subject? It's a low-cost hobby and the tools aren't expensive either," he says.

There is another advantage. Since Hong Kong's urban landscape is constantly changing, Cheung targets neighbourhoods that are forgotten or ignored and worth remembering. So the group is helping to capture on paper parts of the city that may soon fall prey to redevelopment.

"We're in Sai Ying Pun today because it will have the MTR soon, and shops and buildings will slowly disappear. We want to let people know about these places," he says.

Sketching shiny corporate landmarks such as the IFC and Pacific Place doesn't appeal to Cheung's group because these buildings can be found in any big city. Older neighbourhoods, with their tong lau and local shops, are the attraction.