Expression and Manifestation: A Re-interpretation of the History of Hong Kong Art Since 1967

Current research on either Hong Kong history or Hong Kong identity are fallen within at least one of the four grand narratives: (i) social narrative: former British colonial legacy; (ii) economic narrative: the rising Asian economic city; (iii) political narrative: part of greater China and (iv) cultural narrative: crossroad between East and West.

This research, however, aims to deconstruct the conventional narrative, especially the dichotomy of East and West, so as to reflect upon the conventional narrative and to re- establish a more authentic one. Hence, the research focuses on understanding the expression and manifestation of art.

To comprehend the two approaches, the methodologies used in this research would mainly be literature review, archival analysis and oral history, focusing on artists,and institutions as well as the policies. The literature review will look into details of the historical events of Hong Kong to have an overview of the history, history of art and cultural history of Hong Kong. The archival analysis and self-reflection of artworks by selected visual artists will also be done.

The oral history will be in the form of semi-structured and in-depth interviews with selected visual artists. The first set of question will be targeting on how (if at all) artists’ works were influenced by a consciousness to produce native “Hong Kong art”, and the second set of questions will be aimed at the institutional influences artists might have felt in the production process of their artwork.