Thanks for all of your comments. It seems that So's work really has a resonance for you guys! As being a Hong Konger, her work is representative and remarkable. You can google her graduation video: Very Fantastic.It is an excellent animation in which a young woman carries a bucket through an elaborate and somewhat mysterious tenement block from old Hong Kong. This is one of my favourite video, as it is continually surprising.
So's first inspiration came from her graduation project. As she witnessed her home, school and church in Wan Chai were torn down and rebuilt, she tried to draw the ideal city through her works.
Stella So: "Hong Kong has many visual elements along its streets, especially
elements of the older culture. Because the government wants to earn
money from buying land and re-building on it, these elements will fade
away. There’s no way to stop it. I draw them in my illustrations to
collect them and in hopes that I can reconstruct the city in my mind.
How can we let our lovely memories fade away? Hong Kong culture along
the streets is very colorful and interesting. When you talk to
shopkeepers, you hear many interesting stories."
She created "Stella's Private City " which was composed by her imagination.
I feel very confused after reading her work. As it is grateful that the future generation can understand the history through her work vividly, on the other hand, these heritage cultures should be preserved rather than recorded documentarily. What a shame!
I am really appreciate what Stella did to archive the old culture and historical elements as I am sure people will forget them when the time went by and lost the memory especially in busy live of Hong Kong. Therefore, I will focus on preservation of culture in my research.
