Before Memories Expire - Opening Reception

“How do we, as humans, individuals, and members of a community, embrace the destruction and recreation of our socio-economic cityscape, collective memories and interwoven identities?” -- Elaine Chiu

Growing up in Yau Tsim Mong District, one of the busiest neighbourhoods in the city, Hong Kong artist Elaine has been witnessing the drastic and continuous transformation of the urban space and environment since her childhood. The transient, fluidic, and intersecting memories and impressions about Hong Kong have been deep-rooted in her consciousness and self-identity.

With the effect of the amendment of the Building Ordinance in 2011, thousands of sign boards, hand-written or neon-lighted, have since been removed all around the city. Elaine initiated an on-site sketching campaign to record the fleeting cityscape with her paintbrush in the past three years. Street-sketching prompts her to contemplate the disappearance of numerous heritage buildings and tenement houses in the local community under rapid urban…