Duo exhibition:
Market-go around
This May, SC Gallery is proud to bring you an exciting duo exhibition with a strong sense of local Hong Kong called “ Market-go-around”. Artists Jacky Tao and Rosanna Li will take you on a journey to explore the local flavours of Hong Kong’s wet markets and public housing estates.
Jacky Tao grew up in a Hong Kong renowned public housing estates ,Wah Fu Estate, which was a community built in the 1960s, that not only nurtured his growth but also served as inspiration for his art. The scenes of old housing estates, wet markets, market hawkers, street signs, bus stops, Wah Fu Estate playgrounds, and even residents who like to dry their cotton quilts under the sun all have a strong local Hong Kong characteristic. Wah Fu Estate will soon be demolished and redeveloped; memories of the past have become even more precious. Jacky Tao has the inspiration to record his feelings about his community and these records of grassroots life in Hong Kong, which will soon disappeared. In this exhibition, let’s see how many of these old communities you can recognize.
This collaboration also touched Rosanna deeply. She had never had the habit of buying groceries and cooking, and she joked that she managed all three meals a day with takeaway food, until the pandemic when the various social restrictions forced her to cook for herself. Her first-time buying groceries at the street market was a feeling of “market-go-around”, she has so many questions in her mind, such as how much should I buy for one person’s appetite? Where is the pork stall? The vegetable stalls or the fish stall? How about the fruit stalls? Three years of the pandemic have completely changed her way of life from being a woman who does not cook to one who discovers new interests at the street market.
One of her discoveries is that there is a “public scale” at every district street market, which is fair for everyone. All these little details have become the subject matter and inspiration for the show.
Last but not the least, the two artists hope to pay tribute to all the unnamed heroes in this exhibition, including those couriers and riders who spare no effort to deliver meals to Hong Kong people during the pandemic, as well as the market hawkers who provide fresh groceries for everyone every day.