Artists Emma Rushton and Derek Tyman
Creators of the “Turf” project, UK artists Emma Rushton and Derek Tyman, have been invited to build a garden at the 1a Space as part of the gallery’s artist-in-residency program. Alexandra Carroll caught up with the socially minded artists in the decidedly un-green To Kwa Wan.
HK Magazine: I don’t suppose you’ve noticed, but there aren’t many gardens around here.
Emma Rushton: We’re living here – just across the street from the gallery and we’ve been taking lots of photographs of the neighborhood. We’ve been amazed how people have managed to make gardens in these tiny little areas, like up on the fourth floor. But I think that’s part of the reason they wanted us to come here and do the project, really.
HK: The idea is for people in the neighborhood to donate plants to the project. What kind of plants do you think the residents of To Kwa Wan will donate?
Derek Tyman: We have done some reading but we don’t know a lot about the local plants. Somebody did ring up saying they had some big plants that had outgrown the house and asked if they could bring them down.
HK: Will you buy any plants yourselves?
ER: We bought a plant in from our flat. But the aim is not to spend loads of money on it – everything is contributed. All the soil has been donated by the Botanical Gardens and we’ve had some funding for the book – but the end result just goes to the community.
HK: What do you think of Hong Kong’s parks and gardens?
DT: The public parks here are very, um, organized. Very controlled.
ER: There are parts of Manchester where you can see similar things. The trend in England now is to raze over areas of grass, put concrete down and put a few pot plants down over the top. I think one of the reasons we wrote about the parks [in our catalogue] was to make some kind of protest.
HK: Are you making an environmental protest?
ER: In a sense, yes. But we’re really making a social statement. It’s about people having space to have some peace, to congregate.
If you would like to congregate with Emma and Derek, bring a plant down to Tai Wong Street East Recreation Park, Wan Chai, this weekend (April 8-9 2006), where they will be hosting an off-site exhibition.