New Territories is a series of projects that explore the changing landscape of Hong Kong’s northern frontier, re-thinking notions of territory, development, time, and the legacies of colonialism.

2019 - Ongoing

In early 2021, I found myself spending extended periods of time exploring the North of Hong Kong near the Shenzhen border. 


I was drawn to the stark absence of the landscape that felt worlds apart from the dense towers and congested streets of Hong Kong. Behind the facade of pristine forests and deep silence lay a changing landscape interwoven with myths, modernity, and forgotten histories. Each encounter revealed a territory torn between its colonial past and proximity to mainland China, in which villages are bulldozed to the ground to make way for new towers, hidden shrines unearth neglected histories, and farm fields are eroded by construction.


The farther I walked, the more the border between the  landscape and my imagination began to blur. Beyond the edge of land was nothing but the vast expanse of my imagination, longing to find the meaning of home in a city that is ever changing. Objects left behind by its once inhabitants became a new kind of territory, an inner journey that straddled between past and present, occupation and absence, the seen and newly imagined. 


All that remains are the objects left behind, a ruin of memories. As night falls and shrouds these objects in darkness, the faintest light emerges from beneath, still warm from that one afternoon where papaya trees bloomed from the summer rain.


Far more than a region, New Territories provides a setting for imagination of a place that is ever evolving, the ground rupturing beneath my feet.


自2021 年,我時常帶上相機,漫無目地行走在香港北部與深圳邊界,拍攝沿途所見。沒有既定的終點,沒有特定的意義。

有別於我所熟知的香港,高樓林立街道縱橫,在這裡,我忽而被一種荒蕪感所吸引:森林與群山,在靜謐而質樸風景畫的表象下,暗藏著不斷變遷的圖像:現代化、古老的迷思及被遺忘的歷史相互交織,在殖民時代的記憶與中國內地的一體化進程之間踟躕往復。深圳的天際線由遠及近,似一幅轉瞬即逝的景象——舊時的村落被夷平為土地開發讓位,空置的祠堂暗喻了被遺忘的歷史,殘留的瓦礫與廢墟是那段被侵蝕的過去。

隨著逐步前行,眼前的景象開始與腦海中的景象重疊,虛實難辨。我的想像開始在這片時空漫延:在這瞬息萬變的城市,何為故土,何以為家?停擺的時鐘,被遺落的紅色襯衣,村莊拆遷後的瓦礫,觸發我思考自身與這片土地之間的關聯。我開始了一段向內探索的旅程——眼前的一切,它究竟是真實的還是虛幻的,是過去還是將來,是一種存在還是一種缺席,是親眼所見還是僅僅建構於我腦海之中。

夜幕將至,在黑暗的籠罩下滲出一絲微光。那是在廢墟之中埋藏的,被遺忘的物件,卻是一段記憶存在過的證明。那微光,如同那個木瓜樹盛開的夏日雨後,在我的記憶裏仍舊溫熱。

「界」 ,將超越其地理名詞的本義,轉而成為一段隱喻的風景,它恆常變化,它恆常變幻——此時、此地,大地在我腳下崩裂。

Photobook 

New Territories 界 (Asia One, 2022)

Embossed linen hardcover
26.1 x 27.1 cm, 122 pages

ISBN 978-988-76507-0-6 

Link to Store


Collection

Asia Art Archive Research Collection, Hong Kong

Tai Kwun Artist's Book Library, Hong Kong

Rehearsal Art Book Fair, New York


Exhibition

2023 “Independent / Underground publications by Chinese-speaking Creators”, Rehearsal Art Book Fair, September 15-16, New York


“Unsettled Ground 未定之境”, 20 May - 23 November, 2023,Hong Kong Pavilion “Transformative Hong Kong”, 18th International Architecture Exhibition–La Biennale di Venezia, Italy


"New Territories", 05 November - 28 December, 2022, Hong Kong International Photo Festival (HKIPF) Satellite Exhibition 


Grants

Hong Kong International Photo Festival (HKIPF) Satellite Exhibition Grant 2022 for "New Territories"


Lectures

“Temporal and Spatial Dynamics in the Urban History of Hong Kong”, Prof. Shuo Ha, Department of History and Chinese at CityU HK, April 04, 2023


“Between Landscapes”, The Politics and Poetics of Infrastructure, February 20, 2023, University of Hong Kong Division of Landscape Architecture 


"Rethinking Territory along the Northern Border”, Society for Hong Kong Studies x WMA, February 3, 2023, Hong Kong


"New Territories Book Sharing", HART Hong Kong, December 17, 2022


“Image Making and Re-Enactment: Beyond Territories and Boundaries” Moderated by Christine Lee with Law Yuk Mui and Natalie Lo Lo Lai, 10 December 2022, Kino Cinema, Eaton Hotel 


"New Territories, Photography  Book Talk and Fair", Asia One Tower, December 03, 2022, Hong Kong


"Framing Territories: Beyond Memoirs and Ruins", Moderated by Christine Lee with Lau Chi Chung, Erica Chung, and Justin Hui, December 2, 2022, Kubrick, Hong Kong


"New Territories", Collective Studio, 25 November, 2022, Hong Kong


“New Territories”, ULI Hong Kong YLG: Re-injecting Purpose into Real Estate - Northern Metropolis, November 24, 2022, Urban Land Institute, Hong Kong


“Exploring different ways of using photography: a talk with HKIPF 2022 Satellite Exhibitors”, November 12, 2022, Hong Kong


"New Territories", Woods Bagot, 04 November, 2022, Hong Kong


Articles

Dewolff, Christopher. "Hong Kong at Venice Biennale 2023: sustainable, humane architecture to the fore as designers explore future of city at a crossroads", SCMP, June 01, 2023

Article


"【新界東北】藝術家探新界廢墟尋舊物 以攝影重塑被迫遷村民與土地的情感 提問北部發展:香港應擁抱更具遠見的規劃", MPW Weekly, April 27, 2023

Video Link


"攝影師許慕義:新界之北,到底發生過什麼事", Nathanotes, November 27, 2022

Article

Jet Magazine, Issue 243, pg. 102 - 109, November, 2022, 

Ming Pao Weekly, November 15, 2022

MPW Culture Article

"鄉郊變遷 消失中的新界北風景", Metropop, November 06,

Link to Article

就係香港 Being Hong Kong, November 3, 2022

Being Hong Kong Kong Article

Art Mate Life, November 13, 2022, 

Art Mate Life Article 

HK Feature, November 01, 2022

SCMP, November 19, 2022

SCMP Photos Link

Using Format