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Artist Sharon Cheung with some of her distorted portraits from the “Our Time” exhibition at her SC Gallery in Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong. Photo: Jonathan Wong

‘Focus on the anxiety, fear and uncertainty’: portraits without facial features are artist’s response to Hong Kong protests, their aftermath and pandemic

  • ‘Our Time’ is an exhibition by Sharon Cheung of 51 portraits without features – her take on how her subjects feel about events in the city since 2019 protests
  • She says now is ‘the golden era for Hong Kong’s art scene’ as the world watches how artists ‘are responding to what’s happening to the city’
Art

Wanting to switch up her mundane life, media veteran and artist Sharon Cheung Po-wah decided to return to school for a three-year fine arts programme in early 2019. Little did she know she would be creating artwork during some of the most tumultuous years of her life.

To chronicle her lived experience, Cheung painted dozens of portraits as the world around her changed rapidly.

From the social unrest of 2019 to the implementation of the National Security Law in Hong Kong in 2020, isolation during the coronavirus pandemic and the migration of many friends away from the city, the breakneck speed of change stimulated her to create the series as a cathartic release.

Her exhibition, “Our Time”, features 51 distorted portraits of Hong Kong people painted in the past two years.

The portraits that make up the “Our Time” exhibition are distorted and without detailed facial features. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Having spent more than a decade in journalism covering politics (Cheung was once a reporter for the Post) and the latter part of her career in the entertainment and arts industry, Cheung based these portraits on her friends in these fields, who she says have experienced the greatest upheaval.

Without the detailed contours of facial features, the 51 silhouettes together form a symphony of colours and emotions, and evoke anguish and frustration in the viewer.

Societal change is an opportune time for creating art … People want to write, people want to document, people want to satirise.
Sharon Cheung Po-wah

“Both Hong Kong and the world underwent a lot of changes between 2020 and 2022. I had a lot of anxiety and fear, as I’ve never experienced something like this in my lifetime,” says Cheung.

“When we experience change, we need time to adapt. For so much change all at once was very overwhelming.”

The works are part of her graduation project, and mark the end of her three years of study on the bachelor’s programme conducted by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) at the Hong Kong Arts Centre.

Cheung started the “Our Time” project by painting three self-portraits using different shades of red at the end of 2019. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Although she based some of her portraits on public figures, Cheung says she does not want the emphasis to be on the identities of her subjects, but on the emotions the artwork is trying to convey.

“For each subject, I want to convey my feelings towards them, or to portray the turbulence they have been through using a variety of colours, strokes and painting techniques,” says Cheung. “There is no need to guess who’s who, but to focus on feeling the anxiety, fear and uncertainty instead.”

Cheung chose to paint portraits because the human face is an important communication channel. By distorting their faces, she hopes to portray the internal struggle and the abrasiveness of the emotions she experienced in the past two years.

Cheung initially painted three self-portraits using different shades of red at the end of 2019, and wanted to extend the series for her graduation project. However, the pandemic caused supply chain issues that led to practical challenges.

Cheung recently founded SC Gallery to give Hong Kong artists a platform on which to tell their stories. Photo: Jonathan Wong

“Red paint was out of stock, and so were canvases and solvents. The shop owners couldn’t tell us when they would be back in stock. Suddenly we were deprived of the freedom to choose our medium and materials,” she says. “This series is also a documentation of our circumstances.”

Having curated exhibitions for young Hong Kong artists, and shown their works at her newly opened gallery in Wong Chuk Hang on the south side of Hong Kong Island, Cheung hopes to give local talent a platform to tell Hong Kong stories.
In line with the words of her first-year instructor, who said that an artist with a smooth-sailing life will not be able to make good art, Cheung found that the pain and loneliness artists experienced in recent years was a source of inspiration for them.

How Hong Kong’s arts scene has changed in 25 years and challenges to come

“Societal change is an opportune time for creating art … People want to write, people want to document, people want to satirise,” she says.

“The world is watching how Hong Kong artists are responding to what’s happening to the city. This is the golden era for Hong Kong’s art scene.”

Our Time, SC Gallery, 1902, Sungib Industrial Centre, 53 Wong Chuk Hang Rd, Wong Chuk Hang. 12pm to 6.30pm. Ends September 17.

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