Quirky Instagram account captures extraordinary Hong Kong among the mundane
American architect Austin Tang, who came to the city in 2008, says lingering for a few seconds can help to register reality in motion. Stuff I Saw Yesterday tries to capture some of the signature rhythms and textures of everyday Hong Kong
Walking along a busy Causeway Bay street, Austin Tang Shao-yu suddenly veers off into an alleyway. “They are still there,” he says, pointing to three mops standing to attention against a wall.
Tang photographed the exact scene, one of hundreds to be found on his quirky Instagram page Stuff I Saw Yesterday, which has been turned into a book of the same name.
While some might find the photographs mundane, Tang says that is the point: capturing the extraordinary in the ordinary is the trademark of this urban explorer, who prefers to “head backstage”, as he calls it, to photograph back alleys, lanes and stairwells.
“My photos are not your typical ‘Instagrammable’ looks,” he says. “The book tries to capture some of the signature rhythms and textures of everyday Hong Kong. With its ever-changing physical condition, each view of the city attests to the ongoing hard negotiations between the natural and the man-made.
“On any corner, we may witness everyday people enacting the characteristic narratives of this city: the narrow divide between work and struggle, the relentless drive to optimise time, commerce and real estate, the contrastbetween opulence and [survival].”
And the pictures make these statements, from a “muscular” tree’s roots bursting through a concrete pavement, to workmen putting in long hours to finish outfitting a Prada store, and an elderly woman pushing her own wheelchair.