TRANSITION

Finalist

CHAN Suk On - Ink Dips on Petals

“Win Back Hong Kong” was the slogan of Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee during the nomination period. It made an impression on the public.

Family photos are collected in private photo albums. They are printed on the newspaper for the public. Happy family photos seem to be evidence of happy families.

Do you remember the names of the election committee members? Did you cast a vote of conscience?

There are about 7.35 million population in Hong Kong. Only 1,194 people have a right to vote in the election of the Chief Executive. When will I be with you at the polling station?

Carrie Lam got 579 votes in the nomination period of the election.

Mr. Potato Chip is the nickname of John Tsang. It is also a cultural symbol in Hong Kong.

John Tsang’s election campaign on 24 March 2017 in Edinburgh Place, Central. About 3,500 supporters attended to hold the light of the phones, creating a starry night. It was very touching.

Is 777 a lucky number? Nobody knows. That's a mystery. We look forward to a bright future for Hong Kong.

On 1 July 2017, Carrie Lam became the first female Chief Executive of Hong Kong. She wore a “cheongsam”, a Chinese-style dress. Political imageology played a brilliant fashion psychological warfare. A few familiar faces and a few new faces attended...

Biography

Chan Suk On graduated from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University with a Bachelor degree in Photographic Design. She gained her Masters of Arts in Fine Arts degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. On is an editor, photographer and artist. Inspired by social issues, she likes to create images, videos, installations and write. Her practice is developing from documentary photography to conceptual art.

Project Statement

My hands were stained with ink when I read the newspaper. The ink would seep into my fingerprints, like traces of culture. Reading the news is a way to understand the world. I read the newspaper every day during the period of March 2017, during which the headlines were all about the Chief Executive election in Hong Kong. John Tsang, Carrie Lam, Woo Kwok-hing were highlighted daily in headlines. Politics is inseparable from our lives. The role of the media, the relationships between politicians and the media, how is the image of a candidate shaped by the media? One must rely on their own wisdom to judge.

I chose some news articles, cut them into shapes of petals and rearranged them into flowers to record parts of Hong Kong’s history as an art form. My photography work “Ink Dips on Petals” is an attempt to break the usual reading habit of people and urge them to treasure-hunt through the “petals”. Fragmented articles and images are reconstructed to encourage people to think more about the news. The blooming flowers also represent the hope a new Chief Executive may bring to Hong Kong. But is such “hope” presented through public opinion and media real? Is there a discrepancy between the election platforms and policy implementation?