Ladder to the Future

It is easy to be subjugated by the skyscrapers, the sea and the mountains all surrounding Victoria Harbor when coming to Hong Kong for the first time. Actually, with the pace of change of the city, even repeated visits can bring a varying impression toward the general cityscape each time and yet, it remains distinctly Hong Kong .

However, beyond these iconic features of international fame, there are other visual patterns in the city that may not be so famous, but that will still make a Hongkonger recognize his home place at the first glance. Among the neon signs, once ubiquitous but now an unfortunate feature on the verge of extinction, the colonial architectural heritage, slowly denatured, and the harbour itself, narrower and narrower, remain the places of living and working of countless locals: public housing complexes, industrial estates and B-tier commercial buildings

It is these seemingly nameless and trivial constructions and their visual quality that I wanted to honor in this series of photographs. Ancient or newly opened, the public housing complexes all sport striking color schemes. The industrial estates will draw your eyes to a fractal of equipment festooned to their facades and even anonymous sites such as a commercial building or a school might boast some surprising style. The next time you take a stroll out of the typical touristy places in Hong Kong, look at the buildings around. We hope this series gives you a different way to appreciate them.

by Guillaume HOW-CHOONG

Limited Edition