Hong Kong celebrated from its skyscrapers to nature in British painter’s mostly miniature paintings

Phoebe Richardson’s pocket-sized paintings reflect her love for Hong Kong, something she felt immediately after moving to the city six years ago

Now on show at CEZ in Sheung Wan, the paintings also give a taste of the diversity of Hong Kong’s neighbourhoods

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Self Portrait (2022), a 5cm x 7cm miniature of the British artist Phoebe Richardson with her dog, outside an abandoned stone house on Lamma Island, Hong Kong. Photo: Phoebe Richardson

Published: 5:15pm, 21 Apr 2022Updated: 2:21pm, 22 Apr 2022

For British painter Phoebe Richardson, moving to Hong Kong wasn’t just a change of scenery – it was a decision that altered the entire course of her life.

“Hong Kong saved me,” she says.

The artist was dissatisfied and unhappy with her life in London, and after receiving a serendipitous LinkedIn message from Lane Crawford with a job opportunity, she immediately packed her bags and moved to the other side of the world.

Upon arriving in Hong Kong, she realised she had found her forever home. “I was like, ‘Wow, oh my God, there’s so much colour. I’ve never seen so much colour and height, and old and new together,’” she recalls. “I said to my friends, ‘Oh, I’m home. I don’t think I’m ever going to [go] back.’”

Abba (2022), by Phoebe Richardson. Photo: Phoebe Richardson

Now a full-time artist, Richardson pays tribute to her love for Hong Kong in her new exhibition, “The Gold of Trees”, while taking into consideration the uncertainties of Hong Kong’s future.