Hakkanese Contemporary: "Art><Creativity" Exhibition Series in the Greater Bay Area

For thousands of years, the Hakka people migrated southward in stages. Although they resettled in their new-found homes, the name "Hakka", which in Chinese means "visiting group", remained unchanged. The Hakkas dispersed and came together depending on the period; as long as there was cohesion among the group, the feeling of "home" always stayed with them. This exhibition is held in Huizhou, a place that has retained a rich Hakka culture. Titled "Hakkanese Contemporary", it reinterprets Hakka culture and Hakka gastronomical habits through artistic creation.

Artist Ray Chan traced Hakka traditions and discovered common features between Hakka wine-making and the firing of ceramics. So he combined the two methods in a newly created collection of ceramic chicken wine and wine vessels. In modern times, traditional wine vats are gradually being phased out. To preserve this Hakka tradition, he used three-dimensional printing techniques to make modern vats and give a new face.

On another front, also inspired by traditional Hakka food culture, Bodin Hon and Dilara Kan, of Yellowdot, focus on traditional Hakka furniture ‒ the eight immortals table, which they named Immortals Table +. At celebrations, banquets and festivals, people would sit around the table chatting, drinking and singing in family reunions. The two designers used advanced technology to remould the traditional Hakka table to highlight the compatibility between technical innovation and the preservation and advancement of traditional culture.

The artist and designer team hope that through this exhibition, their works will bring new life to traditional Hakka food culture and inspire the audience to reflect on the co-existence of innovation and tradition, and to feel the warmth of "home" despite the age-old designation of Hakkas as "visitors" in the process of migration and dispersal.