Sai Ying Pun MTR Station - Art

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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

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