The art of rice – and its connection to community

I grew up in Sheung Shui, in the New Territories, close to the border, and think of myself as a country girl. I lived with my parents and two older siblings in the house that my grandfather built. It was made of wood and metal and other materials that he had to hand. My aunt was a farmer and lived within walking distance of our house. We went to a village school, Wai Chow Public School, in the morning and hung out at my aunt’s place in the afternoon, fooling around with my cousins. We went everywhere on our bikes. It was a fun time. Life outdoors I tried to spend as much of my time outdoors as possible. At high school, Kap Yan Directors’ College, I was in the cross-country team. We went with our coach to the country park to train, which meant we were off school for at least half the day. It was a great excuse to be in nature. Although I didn’t spend a huge amount of time in school, I still got through my exams. Montana When I was 17, I did a student-exchange programme and spent a year living with a family in Montana (in the United States) and going to a local school there. I didn’t do that well at school in Hong Kong but I got very good grades in Montana. I had so much fun in the art classes. My art teacher, Mrs Wood, gave me a lot of freedom. She let me play Hong Kong music in class. I put on a track by (Hong Kong rock band) Beyond and my classmates tried to sing along to the Cantonese lyrics. It was so much fun and set a good base for my future artistic path. Culture shock Montana was a huge culture shock. I was the only Asian person in the school and one of about three Chinese people (in town). I became friendly with a Japanese family – the father was Sumio Harada, a National Geographic photographer shooting pictures of mountain goats – and I spent time with them in Glacier National Park. Academics Although I wasn’t very academic, I was good at communicating and didn’t have trouble talking to people. So, I spent two years at the Sha Tin Technical Institute and got a diploma in marketing. After I graduated, in 1999, I spent a couple of years working for a charity helping to promote Chinese folk art. I became friendly with one of the teachers and he offered to teach me drawing. Once a week I went from Wan Chai to his home in Tseung Kwan O and then back home to Sheung Shui. RMIT After a couple of years of drawing, I had a large portfolio of work and applied for a bachelor of fine arts degree from RMIT University in Australia (co-organised by the Hong Kong Art School). It was a big awakening for me. Up until then I’d been drawing what I saw in front of me and through the RMIT programme I learned much more about the creative process and saw what other people were doing. I was focused on painting, but in my third year my eyes were opened to environmental art when I was sent to Kadoorie Farm. ‘Four Seasons’ Under the theme “Four Seasons”, I transformed the entrance hut to the farm to reflect the human relationship with nature. My work at Kadoorie Farm changed my career and from then on I had a craving to link people to the outdoor environment. After that project, I collected the fabric I used to cover the entrance hut and made little “elves”, which I placed around the city. I see the elves as ambassadors, giving people a message about the environment. Solving problems My marketing diploma came in useful because I became the gallery coordinator at The Art School Learning Center Gallery. I was good at solving problems and communicating with people. I helped artists put up and dismantle their exhibitions, and promote them. In 2008, while discussions were ongoing about West Kowloon, me and five or six other artists came together to create the Art Container Project. I was the project manager and our idea was to send Hong Kong art around the world. We collaborated with a container company and invited local artists to paint containers which were then shipped around the world. Many went to the Middle East. Master’s degree In 2011, I got my master’s in arts and design from Aalto University, in Finland, majoring in environmental art. Inspired by the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale (in Japan), one of the largest international outdoor art festivals in the world, I proposed the idea of an environmental art festival to Hong Kong University, which was overseeing the Lai Chi Wo restoration project. I was motivated by this approach of linking village people with art. Beginning in 2014, I lived in Lai Chi Wo for five years as a farmer and artist. I loved it. Now the place feels more like a theme park, but at the time it was very much like my childhood memory of a village, with even fewer people. Everyone shared values about how to revitalise the village and farm in a sustainable way. The idea was to use rice to revitalise the village to draw people in. I set up art installations in my field and around the village. ‘Gift from Land’ At the 2018 Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, I helped a team of Hong Kong farmers on an art project called “Gift from Land”. I saw how much people appreciate rice culture. I had already been using rice as a cultural symbol in my artworks, using the rice I grew to make traditional Hakka rice tea. The experience in Japan deepened my understanding. Leaving Lai Chi Wo I left Lai Chi Wo at the start of the pandemic, in 2020. After that I worked with the “Gift from Land” team at Lam Tsuen, in Tai Po. I was an art facilitator/farmer. Rice was growing naturally on dry land long before it was domesticated by humans. I am experimenting planting my rice not in paddies, but on dry land. I arrange the shape of the raised beds, spelling out a message in Chinese characters, to create a storyboard in the field. I want to give city people the chance to get close to a farm and experience what a farmer does. Ancestors If you want a high yield as a farmer, there are rules you have to follow, but I don’t have such restrictions. I don’t look at rice just as food, it has a lot more meaning to me. I consider the cultural perspective – how I use rice to connect the audience, the village, the environment and the long history of rice in our culture. I see huge parallels between farming and art. You can learn to be a farmer from written materials, but really you learn by experience, observation and making mistakes, and that is so much like art. For me, working with rice is a link with my ancestors. My grandparents and aunts were all farmers. Growing rice, I face so many challenges. When I get stuck, I ask myself, “What would my ancestors do?”

The art of rice – and its connection to community

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Hong Kong environmental artist and farmer Monti Lai uses her rice harvest to connect the community and commune with her ancestors

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Life outdoors

Hong Kong environmental artist and farmer Monti Lai uses her rice harvest to connect the community and commune with her ancestors

Life outdoors