Hum on Nathan Road

Photopolymer etching on paper*, 2021.

Nathan Road slices down the heart of Kowloon, Hong Kong. This image was taken on a visit in 2017, between the two historic umbrella movements, and the last time I would see my grandfather.

When I was a little girl, my grandparents would take me from Mong Kok to Tsim Sha Tsui, and I'd press my face against the shop fronts, marvelling at what lay inside. The glitter of gold, and smell of steamed milk puddings, cigarettes and incense, the hum of air conditioners. The crush of people, the throngs and throngs pouring out from the high rises, the tube stations, the shopping malls, offices, and restaurants.

It was only as an adult that I really started to look up, trying to find the sky beyond the cramped apartment buildings, the tenements sitting above the luxury watch shops, where families would crowd into spaces that make London flats seem spacious.

And always the hum from the air conditioners. Bolted on, irregular, and unregulated, a symbol of the need and ingenuity of the inhabitants within.

This building in particular, sits at the junction of Nathan Road and Jordan. Curved, alluring, mysterious, it looms crowded, and crumbling under external forces, a mountain prey to winds of change. No words, English or Chinese, no logos, no names, but irrevocably of its place.

20% of all sales of this print will be donated to Hong Kong Free Press.
This print has been selected by the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair for exhibition this November 2021.

Plate size: 24.0cm x 24.0cm
Paper size: 39.0cm x 49.0cm
Edition of 30

* Printed on a warm Hahnemühle natural etching paper which does not photograph very well, the paper is not white, and the ink is not black.

Collection from my studio in SE18 London is possible, please get in touch for this option!