Documenting Hong Kong’s
handover from 72 point of views

This is a work that depends entirely on the sociopolitical climate of its time. In 1997, I invited 72 individuals to make photographs with 35-mm slide film and one-hour sound recordings of subjects of their own choosing during the 3 days when HK was handed over from Britain to China. Meanwhile, I was continuously blind-folded for these 72 hours.

The project aimed to create an alternative, yet intimate audio-visual documentation of personal signification during the historical moment. These audio-visually recorded moments pierced through the “Grand,” and the “official,” opening up a particular territorial narrative as if to protest against that ONE global media spectacle. HK should not have to be viewed as becoming the tragic metropolis (by the Western media), or a festival stage (by the Chinese media). I am interested to know how private individuals — 72 in total = friends and family members — perceived such a historical event.

What is important to all of us off-stage? A call for wider reflection on the ways a public (non-artistic, non political Hong Konger) responds to such a highly politicized moment, and counters the general misconception of Hong Konger’s apolitical stance. The task provides an acknowledgement of the process in which everyone has equal right to see and record “for others” and oneself.