BLUES WONG:
This work comprises a traditional painting background; while the lady in the foreground is in a courtly costume, including a crown and a sash with lots of badges on it. It’s similar to Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. The piece is a combination of East and West, with a contemporary portrait contrasted with a landscape from the Qing Dynasty.
PRESENTER:
That’s Blues Wong, who served as one of the editorial members of photography magazine DISLOCATION. During his tenure, Blues witnessed the rise of conceptual photography and the creative evolution of this piece’s creator, Hong Kong photographer Holly Lee. He describes her work as a mixture of culture, history, and aesthetics, that represents the Hong Kong’s historical transition.
BLUES WONG:
Holly cleverly put a motif of a running horse on the lady’s left arm as a totem, or tattoo. The horse is running eastwards, signifying Hong Kong going to the East.
PRESENTER:
Holly Lee created this work, The Great Pageant Show, around 1997, closely tying it to Hong Kong’s sovereign handover. She was a pioneer in using new digital technology to create composite photographs. For example, the landscape background of The Great Pageant Show is actually a painting by Giuseppe Castiglione, a court painter during the Qing Dynasty.
BLUES WONG:
Holly was a hugely important female photographer at the time, both in commercial photography and the artistic realm. In commercial photography, there were only a few women photographers, and they were mostly westerners back then.
She shared a studio with fellow photographer Lee Ka Sing. Holly specialised in portraits, and Lee in still-life photography. Holly’s most well-known commercial work was the movie poster for A Better Tomorrow, a hugely popular Hong Kong film.
Most importantly, they worked as a partnership; they founded DISLOCATION magazine in 1992 to 2000. There are multiple connotations to the Chinese name, ‘NuNaHeDuo’ which means ‘to turn completely upside down’ and ‘appropriation’. And appropriating other elements and practices into newness is the underpinning feature of The Great Pageant Show.
PRESENTER:
Today’s digital technology still wasn’t commonplace back then, and Blues remembers film being the main medium. As he recalls, this led to many interesting magazine meetings…
BLUES WONG:
There was no social media or other digital mediums in the 1990s, so we had to hold our photography meetings in person. Our magazine had a monthly event called ‘Photographer’s Monday’, where the photographers would gather together on the first Monday of each month. We often met at a restaurant in Central; as I say, digital technology wasn’t popular, so we all brought a box of photographs to the gathering. We’d wear white gloves while eating and flipping through the photographs like we were handling a Peking duck, it was so much fun!
