{"id":15317,"date":"2019-11-07T20:00:44","date_gmt":"2019-11-07T12:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/?p=15317"},"modified":"2021-06-24T16:46:13","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T08:46:13","slug":"short-lived-street-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/2019\/11\/short-lived-street-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Short-lived Street Art"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Street art in Hong Kong has limited room for development. <\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Emilie Lui <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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    \n
  • \"\"
    \u201cLiberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times.\u201d near Times Square in Causeway Bay. <\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    The wall became a notice board where people leave comments and words of encouragement next to the graffiti.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Graffiti by Midnight Glue, calling people to join the citywide strike on 5th August. <\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    (Photo courtesy of Midnight glue) A mega-size sticker by Midnight Glue on the roadside showcases how anti-riot police treat a protester violently by hitting him with the baton and grabbing his backpack. <\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    (Photo courtesy of Midnight Glue) \r\nOne of Midnight Glue\u2019s protest stickers, which imitates the official MTR signs, on the right door. <\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    People use graffiti to express their discontent of the government's officials by calling them \"Dog Officials\".<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    \"Free from Chinazi\" graffiti under a bus shelter - featuring an advertisement of Ocean Park Halloween Fest 2019. <\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Graffiti of the new slogan \"Hong Kong people, resist\" at the staircase to the Lennon Wall in Causeway Bay. It is a new slogan that protesters chanted after the Hong Kong government enacted Emergency Regulation Ordinance (ERO) to implement the anti-mask law.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Graffiti on the ceiling and the floor at the Lennon Wall on a footbridge in Causeway Bay.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    A student casually walking past a wall full of political posters and graffiti. <\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    \u201cFree HK. Free Edward Leung\u201d at the CUHK campus. <\/div><\/div><\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Political posters, graffiti and stickers have scrawled across the city amid on-going anti-government protests. People have been creating street art with political messages to express their discontent towards the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    The success of Midnight Glue’s MTR signs has inspired other designers to create their own design.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Midnight Glue is a team that creates political art, mainly stickers, big and small, not only to catch people\u2019s attention but also to encourage others to do the same. \u201cIt is a less risk-bearing activity we can do for the community compared to going to the frontlines,\u201d a Midnight Glue member, who refuses to reveal his identity, says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Midnight Glue\u2019s iconic artworks are mega-size stickers which portray police\u2019s excessive use of force. A Midnight Glue member says, \u201cWe believe the large-scale image can help people to face reality. They can stop reading news and taking part in discussions of the movement, but they cannot turn a blind eye to the images on the walls.\u201d Apart from stickers, they also use stencils and leave messages on streets, urging people to join the social movement and also reminding people of the five demands: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    (Photo courtesy of Midnight Glue) Midnight Glue\u2019s graffiti lists out the four unanswered demands in both Chinese and English. \n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
    • Complete withdrawal of the extradition bill<\/li>
    • An independent inquiry into alleged police brutality<\/li>
    • Retraction of the classification of protesters as \u201crioters\u201d<\/li>
    • Amnesty for arrested protesters <\/li>
    • Implementation of dual universal suffrage <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      While people in western countries have been using art as a tool to express their views for many years, a local graffiti artist Pantone C thinks it is quite difficult for Hong Kong to develop a culture like foreign countries. He thinks that graffiti and street art can only be a scratch since the artworks are usually quickly removed. However, Pantone C supports what the people are doing. \u201cThis is a rebellious action, yet I don\u2019t think there is any problem with it. It\u2019s just like people using different ways to protest and express their discontent towards the government. Street art and stencilling are more contagious than simply writing down slogans on the walls,\u201d Pantone C says. \u201cIt is easy to write words using colour spray, but it is difficult to write it artistically. So, one of the reasons why I set up the workshop is to teach others basic skills of making graffiti.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"\"
      Political posters are torn off from the wall and graffiti are covered in a layer of paint.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

      Art can be a tool for people to express their views or deliver messages. However, street artist Smilemaker doubts whether such art can still exist. \u201cHong Kong has been enjoying a high degree of freedom of speech, but I am not sure whether it still has that. Or maybe it doesn\u2019t anymore,\u201d he says. \u201cFreedom of speech in Hong Kong is no longer like before, so probably there may be some limitations when it comes to the themes of artwork.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Pantone C also thinks that the room for street art development is limited because of the culture in Hong Kong. Street artist Smilemaker agrees and explains, \u201cI think the pace in Hong Kong is too quick for people to appreciate street art, especially in this generation when most of us are glued to our smartphones when we are walking down the street. So, it\u2019s pretty unlikely that people will stop by and look at street art.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      However, the government, in fact, acknowledges that introducing street art into the community can encourage people to be more engaged in their neighbourhood. The Energizing Kowloon East Office (EKEO) of the Development Bureau has launched several projects to develop street art in Hong Kong. The Back Alley Project @ Kowloon East was one of the projects that helps energise the pedestrian area in Kwun Tong. A spokesperson of EKEO says pedestrian flows in the revitalized back alleys have increased by more than 10% to around 20% from 2016 to 2019. This shows that street art is actually bringing a change to society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Edited by Lily Yu <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      People have been creating street art with political messages to express their views during the AntiELAB Movement, but the artworks were usually removed quickly. Varsity talks to local graffiti artists and street artists about why there is limited room for the development of street art in Hong Kong. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1804,72,11],"tags":[1292,1239,1301,1300],"class_list":["post-15317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-issue-153","category-photo-feature","category-photo-story","tag-antielab","tag-graffiti","tag-political-art","tag-street-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15317"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15526,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15317\/revisions\/15526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}