Hong Kong’s Past and Present as Captured by Photographers Yau Leung and Lee Ka-sing

Description

Titled Vision of Hong Kong from Two Generations: Yau Leung | Lee Ka-sing, this photography exhibition zooms in on day-to-day Hong Kong life. On show are approximately 50 rare black-and-white photographs taken in the 1960s, printed and signed by the late Yau Leung, as well as 30 photographs of the Hong Kong cityscape, both in colour and monochrome, taken by Lee Ka-sing in recent years.

Often compared to French photographer Henry Cartier-Bresson, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century, Yau Leung began his three-decade-long career in the 1960s, passionately capturing the everyday lives of Hong Kong people in a rapidly changing city. Yau was particularly interested in taking photos of natural interactions among children and the working class. Using simple yet profound compositions, Yau documented local life and living with authenticity, presenting the viewer with scenes from a bygone Hong Kong. His works are currently featured in the collections of the Hong Kong M+ and Hong Kong Heritage Museum.

Adept at combining photographs, Hong Kong contemporary artist and photographer Lee Ka-sing is drawn to dynamic perspectives and meanings generated through juxtaposition, uniting and superimposing images in geometric patterns. On show in this exhibition are both his monochrome and colour photograph series, all embodying the postmodern spirit, manifesting a fragmentary Hong Kong through pastiche and metaphor.

Image: Yau Leung, Amah, Central Market, Hong Kong, 1963. Courtesy of Sotheby’s Hong Kong.