So close and yet so far away
The idea of the border originated from my childhood memories. I was born in China. When I was a child, I often travelled between China and Hong Kong with my mother. At that time, China's border city (Shenzhen) was not yet well developed. As a passing passenger shuttle between the two places, I naturally have a strong interest in the border. I was very impressed by the borders. From the fields to the high-rise buildings, the speed of China's development far exceeded my imagination, and my identity also shifted over time, from a passenger to a resident. I began to understand the change in Hong Kong society. Although we speak the same language, there are complex social dynamics at the same time. The border symbolizes identity, history, and the uniqueness of the division. After Hong Kong ended with the British colony, it completed the political regression on the long history depicted under the linear history view. Everyone has different opinions on the future. In this uneasy era, the whole city was shrouded in a repressive atmosphere. I began to explore the changes in Hong Kong's borders and started a dialogue with my own identity. The first stage hopes to narrate the history and objects that cross Hong Kong's border through research and image collection. 'So close and yet so far away' is divided into two chapters. 'So close' mainly records the inseparable relationship between the two cities, trying to combine daily life portrayal with words and boundaries, capturing metaphors and symbols. These images are in a state of peace on the surface, but hidden behind the Hong Kong community is undergoing complex tensions and political environment. 'So far away' began to respond to the utopian ideas of this era based on changes in Hong Kong's history, expand the scope of investigations into Hong Kong society, and inject more emotions between individuals and Hong Kong.
Artist Bio.
Wing-ka Ho Jimmi, born in 1993. He graduated from the Cinematic Design and Photographic Digital Art program at The Open University of Hong Kong. Over the past three years, his practice focuses on photography that captures historical landscapes and objects, exploring Hong Kong's communities' diversity. His work has been widely exhibited and featured in The Guardian, Lensculture, and KG+ Kyotographie.
