Sai Ying Pun MTR Station - Art

-

Hong Kong started as a fishing village and evolved much to become one of the most important financial centres in the world. The development improves people's living standard but simultaneously removes a lot of historical and memorable stuff.  MTR commenced in early 80s to accommodate the need for massive transport. The only differentiation between stations was colour. E.g., red Central, blue Kowloon Tong, green Jordon, etc. It grew from one line 'Tsuen Wan' to cover more areas. Until 2014, it opened up the West Island line. Stations started to have its own characters.


My favourite MTR station is Sai Ying Pun. It is a very old district dotted with various local shops selling different products and services. The hilly geography results in a station deep down the ground. Passengers need to take escalator, lift and walk through a long passage to leave the station. The huge space and the determination to enliven the space with art allowed artists to install street scene photography and bas-reliefs as nostalgic memories of Sai Ying Pun.


The first art section after leaving the turnstile at exit B is a collage of  photographs showing different times and aspects of the area. It was created by photographer Tse Ming-Chong and students.




Next to these images are wonderful painted bas reliefs depicting the neighbourhood, created by Louise Soloway Chan. It shows different sights from Sai Ying Pun, from the escalator connecting the High Street to different kinds of shop which may have vanished. They let us keep the memory of the old days and allow the younger generations to visualize the life of their parents, grand parents, grand grand parents .......


Old-time tea shops, barber shops and dry seafood stores have evolved to modern nice stores with upscale design. The above images only exists in art and our minds. Nice old days......





This kind of lantern shop may not exist anymore. It kept selling the traditional style lanterns but also provided new products made with popular carton characters, e.g. Big Sweet Potato (大蕃薯) from the second leading actor in the comic "Old Master" (老夫子),  Thomas the Tank Engine, Teletubbies (天使得得b), etc.


In addition to the black and white photography and bas relief, walls of black and white carton enrich the presentation of the old days of Hong Kong. They captured a lot of typical scenes in the past decades. They recall memories and put smiles on visitors' faces.





If you take B3 Exit, gorgeous street art pieces are waiting for your appreciation and admiration. I'll lead you through in another post, Artlane.



Location: Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kbal Spean

-
Image
Kbal Spean is a unique archaeological site situated 50km from the Siem Reap.   Religious stone cravings sit on the river banks and bed, 150m stretch of the Stung Kbal Spean River.     Kbal Spean is commonly known as the "Valley of a 1000 Lingas " or "The River of a Thousand Lingas". Lingas are phallic representations sacred to Brahmanism.   It is a symbol of fertility.   Hundreds of them are carved into the rock of the river.   Other carvings include gods such as Vishnu , Shiva , Brahma and animals. To appreciate the beautiful carvings in the nature, one has to climb a trek for around 30 minutes.   Exhausted but worthwhile. Reclining Vishnu is often the theme of carvings.   Others include Shiva and Uma mounted on the bull, Brahma on a lotus petal and still others which I can't figure out exactly. Animals, lingas, yoni dot here and there.            Downdream ...
Read more

Hong Kong Heritage Museum - The Hakkas and Fishing Origin

-
Image
15 June 2012 HK Heritage Museum - Hakka Women It has been more than 10 years that I haven't been to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum .  Today, a Picasso exhibition brought me back.  Hmm, a Spanish artist associating with the Chinese heritage.  It's a special event of the French May .  It drew a lot of people to the museum, though a bit remote.  People, family speaking different languages crowded at the venue.  Picasso 's paintings shown were across his different periods.  Many photos of him and friends were also shown. Hong Kong Heritage Museum is unique in providing the history of Hong Kong, featuring Hakka (Guest family) migration, as a fishing village, the traditional Cantonese opera as the integral parts of Hong Kong's heritage, history and culture. During the reign of Yongzheng and Qianlong of Qing Dynasty (18th century), people were encouraged to utilise wasteland for farming.  A big demographic shift of residen...
Read more

Marshal Zen Garden Beitou 北投少帥禪園

-
Image
Marshal Zen Garden was built during the Japanese-colonised period of the 1920's.  It was renowned for the hot spring and was used as the entertainment hub of the Japanese pilots during the end of the World War II. In the 1960's, it was used to confine Marshal Chang Xue-liang and his wife Zhao Di. We checked in in our hotel Double Inn and was driven there.  The environment is very soothing with a lot of green, flowers and typical Japanese set up. We first enjoyed our afternoon tea after travelling straight from Alishan to Chiayi to Taipei. You can visit the Zen Garden if you hold a booking of  the tour, hot spring or restaurant. It was very nice to enjoy the afternoon in its tea house  小六茶舖. It's cosy and the food was superb, good value for the money. NTD900 for two. Marshal Chang and his wife were detained at the Zen Garden for decades.  Though it was years ago, the exhibition of his room, photos and his life made me feel...
Read more