afterbefore: images and voices from Hong Kong
January 9 - January 30, 2021
Participating Artists:
Photography and Video: Art JONES, Enoch CHEUNG, Eric TSANG Tsz Yeung, Kenji WONG Wai Kin, KO Chun Ming, Leia Lee DORAN, MC (CHAN Kai Chun), Paul YEUNG Tak ming, SIU Wai Hang, South HO Siu Nam, TSE Ming Chong, TSE Pak-chai, YIP Man Hay, LEE Wai Kwan, Xyza Cruz BACANI
Sound: Joshua Elza BREEN-TUCCI
Written Word: Karen CHEUNG, LIU Wai Tong, Vivek MAHBUBANI, YEUNG Yang, Yuli RISWATI ( aka Arista Devi) and other contributors from Hong Kong
Performative protest documentary video: All Cats Are Beautiful
Curatorial Support: Valerie C. DORAN, All Cats Are Beautiful, TSE Ming Chong, Anonymous, Viera LEVITT, Natalie COLETTA
Zines provided by: Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong
Technical Support: Chiara KUNG, Salvatore MANCINI, Myles DECKER, Cap FRANK, Steve SANFORD
& Special Thanks to Hera Gallery
Collective Exhibition Statement by Members of the afterbefore Project:
afterbefore is an independent, multimedia exhibition project initiated by a collaborative group of Hong Kong photographers, videographers, sound artists, writers, and arts practitioners. The mission of the afterbefore project is to create a platform for Hong Kong artists to be seen and heard at this critical time; to open a more authentic, personal, and intimate window into the Hong Kong experience; and to generate communication, exchange, and dialogue with a global network. In addition to the core exhibition of artworks the project features texts by Hong Kong writers and cultural figures, as well as a special selection of zines created spontaneously during the protests by artist collectives, students, activists and ordinary citizens from all over Hong Kong.
The visual artists and writers in afterbefore consciously straddle the realms of documentary witnessing and visceral response, illuminating deeper dimensions of their experience. Beginning in June 2019, the world saw reports and imagery of the evolution of the mass citizens protests in Hong Kong, the government’s increasingly authoritarian response and the subsequent destabilization of possibilities for dialogue in an unprecedented climate of violence, much of it directed against young protestors. The aftebefore project expands the focus from the scenes of confrontation and violence that were largely the purview of the international media towards a focus on both the outer and the inner landscapes of Hong Kong in this moment: the way Hongkongers have been responding, surviving, communicating, questioning, resisting, and caring for each other within the landscape of their city.
Outside of Hong Kong, the impression exists that citizens’ protest actions erupted only in the summer of 2019 in response to the proposed Extradition Law Amendment Bill (ELAB), and the deaf ear the government turned to citizens’ widespread and emphatic opposition to it. However, Hong Kong citizens, including artists, have undertaken a number of peaceful, evocative protest actions over the last 20 years in response to different social, economic, and political issues. While the core focus of this project is on current events, works relating to earlier actions are also included. Through the lens of these artists other dimensions of Hong Kong’s protest movements are revealed, as processes of mutual communication and concern, as urgent calls towards preserving Hong Kong space, culture and identity, as well as of resistance. At the same time, from within the new landscape of 2020 marked by the Covid-19 pandemic and political crackdown, light is shed on the deep wounding of the personal and collective landscape of Hong Kong.
The afterbefore project also seeks to highlight the elements of universality and resonance of the Hong Kong experience, and to create a platform for dialogue with other citizens of the world. In this light, the afterbefore exhibition at Hera Gallery includes elements that acknowledge and honour the important work of the Black Lives Matter movement.
