If these shutters could talk: graffiti art on Hong Kong shopfronts paint stories behind community and owners

Some Hong Kong streets have been turned into graffiti galleries by local artists, who painted the shutters of 20 stores in Wan Chai, Sai Ying Pun and Sheung Wan based on their interactions with the community, and the appearances of shop owners.

This is phase one of the HK Urban Canvas, a community art project organised by charity Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation and sponsored by the Standard Chartered Hong Kong 150th Anniversary Community Foundation. The project aims to enhance community inclusion and highlight unique aspects of local culture through oral history.

“The main focus of phase one is public art. We have invited six groups of artists to design unique works of shutter art that reflect the personalities and histories of the owners of 20 shops on Hong Kong Island,” foundation director Wendy Tsang Wai-man said.

As part of the project, a HK Urban Canvas mobile app was developed for users to locate each piece of shutter art as well as to find out more about the design concept and the stories behind each store.

Visitors to such stores can also use an augmented reality app on their smartphones to call up related animations by capturing an image of shop exteriors with their phone cameras.

“We have this idea because we feel like oral history is very important. When you want to know more about the past, it’s better to hear from a firsthand experience. So, we decided to combine visual art with oral history,” Tsang said.

Artist Marka Mak Ka-yan said she spent three days observing the operation of a soy products shop on Third Street in Sheung Wan for her artwork.