About this Event
In the early 19th century, fishermen in Kingston used timber from boats to build embankment, and settlements gradually emerged along the riverbank. A few decades later, the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) passed through the area, redefining the distance between Kingston and London and drawing the town into a wider metropolitan network.
At around the same time, Hong Kong, newly opened as a port, became a peripheral outpost within the maritime network of the British Empire. Although the two cities occupy very different geographical and historical positions, both have been deeply shaped by water, shipping and the movement of people.
In 1961, Queen Elizabeth II visited a language school in Kingston. More than a decade later, she made her first visit to Hong Kong, arriving at Kai Tak Airport and visiting Oi Man Estate and Hung Hom, where she watched a fireworks display over Victoria Harbour.
Fifty years on, in Oi Man Estate, a fallen banyan tree leaves behind a sawn-off trunk, its rings exposed to the air, as if time itself has been interrupted. Kai Tak Airport, meanwhile, survives within the poetry of Yasi, its images preserved on film, repeatedly bought, sold and collected, becoming frames held at the end of an old film reel.
Fifty years on, in Hong Kong, people dismantle embankment and reassemble the timber left behind after settling on land into boats once again.
When Star Ferry meets the Thames, we cast countless imaginings of the city, desires for reconstruction, and ways of returning home into different rivers and soils. From one body of water to another, from one historical grammar to another; from memories that have been left behind to homes that are still being formed.
This exhibition brings together four Hong Kong artists living in the UK, who explore experiences of migration and the idea of “home” through photography, sculpture, installation, moving image and other media. Together, their works reopen the possibilities of how “Hong Kong” can be defined.
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿 𝗙𝗲𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀
🗓️ Nov 7-15th 12-6pm
📍HKUK Kingston Community Centre, Telephone Exchange, 6 Ashdown Rd, Kingston upon Thames KT1 2FP
Event venue & nearby stays
HKUK Kingston Community Centre, 6 Ashdown Road, Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom
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