Rooftop statues in Hong Kong trigger fears of suicide: Global support association angry at artist's response for people to 'walk home another way'

A global suicide prevention body expressed concern over lifelike statues being erected on high-rise buildings in Hong Kong, a city that saw more than 400 people jump to their deaths last year.

International Association for Suicide Prevention president Ella Arensman warned that a six-month exhibition, Event Horizon, by British artist Antony Gormley could trigger more suicides and cause distress to people who had lost loved ones.

Gormley had, meanwhile, been criticised for allegedly suggesting a woman who was upset by one of the 27 rooftop statues after a suicide near her home should ignore it or take a different route to avoid seeing it.

The Turner Prize winner had a testy encounter with Professor Paul Yip Siu-fai, director of the Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, in a University of Hong Kong forum ahead of Friday's official exhibition launch.

Yip told Gormley a distressed woman contacted his centre last weekend after seeing the statue near her home in Central, only a fortnight after a young man leapt to his death nearby.

"She had heard the screams of the young man and was distressed and asked us what she could do," Yip said.