Extradition bill art: the Hong Kong artists painting a picture of protests for the world

A group of artists are using art to immortalise the summer of unrest that is gripping the city because of the controversial extradition bill

Artists are using their work to try and spread the word about the protests to the rest of the world

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Anti-extradition artwork by Kay Wong. She is one of many artists who have been capturing the unrest in Hong Kong over the last month. Photo: courtesy of Kay Wong

Published: 12:30pm, 18 Jul 2019Updated: 3:18pm, 18 Jul 2019

July 1, 2019. Causeway Bay. It’s 32 degrees Celsius [90 degrees Fahrenheit] but feels even hotter on the crowded street. The black-clad protesters carrying placards, umbrellas and mini electric fans shuffle along Lockhart Road, one of the main arteries in the busy shopping and entertainment area of Hong Kong Island.

On the side of the road, a woman in her 20s hands out postcards featuring black-and-white sketches she’s been producing since the start of the protests against a now stalled extradition bill. The controversial bill would have allowed the transfer of fugitives to China and other jurisdictions which the city does not have a deal with.

Kay Wong, who has been drawing since she could hold a pencil, turned to social media to express her fears at what is happening in Hong Kong, posting her first sketch in response to the bill on June 12.

When a Facebook follower asked if she could print the sketch as a postcard to send to friends overseas, Kay Wong had an idea. She decided to use her work to help inform the rest of the world about the plight of the protesters in the semi-autonomous city.

An image by Kay Wong. Photo: courtesy of Kay Wong

“After two million Hongkongers protested and yet the government still kept a tough attitude, we felt hopeless. What can we do next? Maybe we can attract the attention of the world. We want people who can stand with us, stand with Hong Kong,” she says, referring to the march which drew an estimated 2 million people on June 16, according to organisers.

Kay Wong doesn’t know how many of her postcards have been printed, because she made the soft copy freely available online for people to download and print, but she says she’s received very positive feedback.

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Extradition bill art: the Hong Kong artists painting a picture of protests for the world

A group of artists are using art to immortalise the summer of unrest that is gripping the city because of the controversial extradition bill Artists are using their work to try and spread the word about the protests to the rest of the world

A group of artists are using art to immortalise the summer of unrest that is gripping the city because of the controversial extradition bill

Artists are using their work to try and spread the word about the protests to the rest of the world