Profile | ‘A lot of love and hope’ for Hong Kong: China-born gallery owner on censorship and the city’s international art hub status
- Emerald Mou gave up a job in publishing to pursue a career in the art world. Now she is the owner of Hong Kong-based contemporary art gallery Mou Projects
- Despite censors asking one of her artists to make cuts to a film made amid the city’s 2019 protests, Mou remains hopeful about Hong Kong’s status as an art hub
For one art gallery owner the Hong Kong dream is still alive, even though one of her artists was recently censored under the city’s national security law.
Born in Qingdao in mainland China, Emerald Mou Tiantian moved to Hong Kong at the age of 22 in 2011. She studied accounting at university and landed a job in publishing. It was a conventional career crunching numbers which, she says now, was not particularly fulfilling.
“Art has always been a passion of mine; hence, as cliché as this may sound – it felt like it was meant to be,” she says.
A year later, an opportunity came about that most budding gallerists can only dream of. After Mou talked about the possibility of starting a gallery with Hongkonger Winnie Yau and Michael Huang Xufu, a high-profile young collector in mainland China, the three decided to invest in one together.