The way materials are used and discarded often reflects and shapes a city’s characteristics. In Hong Kong—which is known for its rapid economic development and fervent consumerism—manufactured products and consumables, often made from recyclable materials, are commonly briefly used before being tossed out. Driven by this phenomenon, artist Leelee Chan examines and collects all types of community debris, including domestic and industrial waste. While reinforcing her sculptural practice, Chan explores the materiality of these readymade objects and creates intricate three-dimensional works that combine ‘useless objects’ from urban and natural contexts.

Chan studied and worked in the United States for over a decade and started her career by training in painting. She later transitioned her abstract artistic expression from painting to sculpture, and moved back to Hong Kong, where she was born and raised. Her work Endless Consumption (2015–2017) explores the impact of overproduction and overconsumption.

The main body of Endless Consumption is composed of layers of discarded polystyrene foam packaging with irregular dents and openings. The entire sculpture is supported on a base made from plaster that mimics fossils. Fossils are the preserved remains and traces of ancient organisms while polystyrene foam packaging protect and wrap objects. In this work, both the plaster and polystyrene foam carry the traces of urbanisation. The sculpture also fuses together a compact makeup mirror to represent the manufacturing industry and consumerism, seashells to symbolise nature, and an artificial plant that ambivalently straddles both realms. In the back of the sculpture, an imprint of a dead leaf, which she found in the neighbourhood surrounding her studio, contrasts the artificial plant featured in the front of the sculpture. Chan's artmaking begins with her collection of used objects and garbage, highlighting the footprints of discarded objects left in urban and natural environments, insinuating a cycle of endless consumption that echoes in the name of the work.

Rather than altering the shape of the materials, Chan prefers to retain their original features to evoke a sense of familiarity in the audience. For instance, a crude layer of pink-tinted plaster is applied to the polystyrene foam’s surface to mimic the appearance of marble while also preserving the foam’s original texture. The work’s stacked form and elongated proportions, which measure more than two metres in height, evoke the grandeur and solemnity of imposing monuments. Indeed, Endless Consumption was inspired by Constantin Brâncuși’s Endless Column (1938), a towering statue that honours the Romanian soldiers who died while defending Târgu Jiu during the First World War. With her sculpture, Chan transforms the tribute into a work that mourns the consequences of consumer culture, the rapid disposal of mass-produced products, and the ensuing waste.

Following Endless Consumption, Chan has continued to explore the subject of the disposal of objects. Pallet in Repose (Marine) (2019) delves into the relationship between urban development and marine ecology. The work is constructed with a plastic pallet, concrete, and bumper packaging from automobile repair shops. Transparent blue resin filled several holes in the pallet, resembling fragments of mosaics or traditional Chinese lattice windows. Metal components and zip ties that imitate marine creatures are also attached to the structure. When light penetrates the coloured resin, patches of blue may be projected onto the floor, shimmering like ripples in the sea. This poetic presentation, however, stands in stark contrast to the raw and cold industrial materials used in the creation. In this way, Pallet in Repose (Marine) invites viewers into an underwater reverie while also prompting a reflection on the ecological costs of economic development and consumption.

Commonly used in the logistics industry, the type of plastic pallet in Pallet in Repose (Marine) is frequently discarded even though it is a recyclable product. As a child, Chan gazed out from her home to the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals and witnessed the day-to-day international trade in Hong Kong. This experience inspired the artist to collect and use plastic pallets for her artistic practice. Chan’s repurposed pallets are imprinted with the mark of time and wear, while their history—where they were made, what they have supported—is lost in obscurity. Revolving around the topographical and economic changes of the current times, everyday lives of people, as well as the labour associated with consumerism and waste collection, Chan’s practice delves into the social changes brought about by rapid urbanisation.

With the use of nontraditional materials and inspired by her life and personal experience in artmaking, Chan interprets and critiques overconsumption, the rapid disposal of goods, and the labour exerted. Her art probes the material culture of capitalist societies, as well as day-to-day modes of production and consumption, to draw awareness to our impact on the environment.

Although mass-produced products of our era are easily replaced, disposed of, and forgotten, they serve as evidence of our ever-evolving history and culture. Chan’s material choice traverses the past, present, and her views of the future to not only reflect her upbringing and life experiences but to also bestow value on so-called ‘useless objects’, reminding us of the ongoing need to scrutinise our material culture. Manufactured products and readymades attest to humankind’s existence in the here and now, and our intervention in nature and ecology. Individual and collective behaviours have long been intertwined with social structures. In the midst of drastic urban development and societal changes, the key lies in how we respond to related economic, social, and environmental issues.