Made of Words: Identity, Belonging and Resilience

We tend to speak of identity as something we have. This dialogue proposes that it is something we make: through the words we inherit, the stories told about us, and the images and objects we create in response.

Artist Princess Delphine of Belgium, art historian Professor Yeewan Koon and curator Dr Daisy Yiyou Wang will reflect on how identity, belonging and resilience take shape across Europe and Asia, and how art, history and collections can hold what institutions and official narratives leave out. Moving between the studio, the archive, the museum and the university, the conversation asks what art can do when recognition is slow to come, who decides which histories are remembered, and what it takes for cultural institutions to hold complexity without flattening it.

Moderated by Professor David M. Pomfret, Dean of Arts at HKU, the session offers a candid, cross-disciplinary exchange for the arts and cultural community, and for the next generation of artists, curators and scholars.

As the opening event of HKU Beyond, it also invites the audience to bring their own questions to a series dedicated to thinking beyond the known.

HKU students, staff, alumni and members of the public are welcome to join.

Date: Monday, 16 November 2026

Time: 2:00 PM – 3:35PM (check-in from 2:00 PM; programme begins 2:30 PM)

Venue: Foundation Chamber, Hung Hing Ying Building, The University of Hong Kong

Language: English

Pre-registration online or on-site registration is required for entry. Seating is limited, please register your interest and we will confirm your place by email 5 days prior to the event.

This event is organised by the Communications and Public Affairs Office, The University of Hong Kong.

Views and opinions expressed are those of the speakers and participants, and, unless expressly stated to the contrary, they do not reflect the opinion, position or official policy of The University of Hong Kong.

For details of Privacy Policy and collection of personal data for HKU, please visit here : https://www.hku.hk/about/policies_reports/privacy_policy.html

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Foundation Chamber, Hung Hing Ying Building,, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

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