Hongkongers are notorious for being overly attached to their phones – look at almost every person on the MTR and you’ll find his or her eyes glued to a screen. But have these addicts ever thought about the major controversies involved in the manufacturing of their beloved devices? Probably not.
One Hong Kong art exhibition looking to open our eyes to something other than Candy Crush is “Rare”, brought to us by amateur artists Katherine Sparrow and Sue Perks. Working on the themes of “lost, forgotten and treasured”, the exhibition explores the concepts of the ownership and fragility of the earth’s resources in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Looking at the Senkaku Islands dispute between China and Japan, Sparrow’s art focuses on the fight for land in the region. Her work considers the conflicts arising from the archipelago’s ambiguous ownership since the first Sino-Japanese war, and the rare earth exports (essential parts to our mobile phones, x-ray machines and computers) which have helped fuel the conflict.
Perks, however, examines the fragility of the natural world and looks at the delicate relationship between man and nature. She uses beeswax in her work to explore this physical link. We’re not entirely sure how, but we’re certain she’ll give you a suitably abstract and artsy response if you ask her nicely.
So if you’re keen for a chance get in some FREE artistic, environmental and historical education on Friday, Nov. 21 and Saturday Nov. 22, head on over to 1-3/F, 120 Connaught Road West in Sai Ying Pun. Contact (+852) 3460-7788 for more details.
You’ll love (or maybe hate) your phone a whole lot more after this.
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