Hong Kong protest art headed for the streets of London and Amsterdam
- Work by Hong Kong street artist Boms can be seen all across the city, but his protest posters are now headed for Europe
- The Young Blood Initiative will be handing out copies of his work to the public in London and Amsterdam
Boms has been run off his feet lately.
The Young Blood Initiative, which was founded by Hongkonger Candy Choi in 2014 to bring together artists from around the world to experiment beyond their usual practice, will be bringing Boms’ works to the European cities.
Boms says he wants his posters to bring positive energy to people, encouraging them to “stay and go through anything together”. He adds: “I think a poster doesn’t mean a lot, but at least this is the [message] that I can help communicate to everyone.”
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Boms shows his solidarity with the protests through his art.
In his poster, more than a dozen open umbrellas are piled on top of each other, a formation that’s often seen on the front lines of the protests. While background Chinese calligraphy reads: “Hongkongers never give up”, “The world changes, our original intention never changes,” “Good and evil will be decided in the end”.
Under the umbrellas is a tiny seedling. Boms says it’s the Hong Kong orchid tree and it represents that “we’re actually protecting our future”. At the bottom of the poster, it says, “Stand with Hong Kong!”
The artist says there’s something wrong with the system, but confesses he doesn’t have the solution to fix it. “The only thing we can do is stay together and have our voices [heard],” Boms says.