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WMA INTRODUCES THEME OF 2022/24 CYCLE – HOME

Where one moves
From work to rest and play
Where one retreats
From the everyday

A cubicle void of light
A bubble of stale air
A solitary existence
A sentence to despair

The gift of belonging
To the flesh, mind and soul
Where every dream is an opportunity
And no story is left untold

 

Stephanie Tsui, Home

 

Since the end of 2019, the pandemic has spread across Hong Kong and the world, bringing the lives of many people to a halt or forcing them to part with their loved ones. WMA’s annual thematic programme has also been rescheduled subsequently. Looking ahead at the new normal after two years into the pandemic, WMA remodeled its thematic programme to a biennial basis and announced its next theme for the cycle of 2022/2024 as ‘Home’.

 

We all have desires to call somewhere home. But where is home exactly? In a time when migration has become a common phenomena among our generations, the term home has taken up diversified meanings as we move across borders and inhabit new spaces and social realities. Grappling with experiences of coming and going everyday, enduring the heaviness of individual and collective displacements, and the longing for stability amidst unsettled grounds, all constitute the transformation of home as a concept. What was once defined by one’s ties to a specific locale has evolved into a borderless imaginary interwoven with distant memories and social contexts.   

 

At a time of transitions and uncertainty, WMA hopes to re-examine the meaning of ‘home’ with artists and the public through art-making and continuous dialogues. As a prelude, WMA has invited the editor-in-chief of Being Hong Kong Jessica Wong and contributor Stephanie Tsui to respond to the theme. In the following two years, we will explore the connection between ‘home’ and Hong Kong through the WMA Commission programme and a series of curated projects. Stay tuned!