50 Hong Kong artists celebrate Amnesty International's 50th anniversary

New media artist Keith Lam: "When you own a country, you can own light. You can own prosperity, culture and civilization. Yet light becomes luxury when you cannot afford bulbs. People struggle for light, a basic right. And they struggle to read. Change their lives with light. Stand up and come close to the people, light them up and shape their future up."

Human rights advocacy group Amnesty International is celebrating its 50th anniversary with an unusual art show involving candles made by 50 artists, designers and musicians using locally-produced beeswax.

The show, which takes place in two venues on Tai Ping Shan Street in Sheung Wan, is a collaboration between Amnesty fundraising officer Leung Dont and HK Honey director and product designer Michael Leung.

Inspired by Amnesty’s logo, which is a candle sheathed in barbed wire, the pair gave each artist a block of beeswax produced by HK Honey’s rooftop bee farm.

Participating artists include G.O.D. founder Douglas Young, rapper and former LMF member MC Yan, fashion designer Kay Wong and her musician brother Jing, contemporary artist Pak Sheung-chuen and graffiti crew Graphic Airlines.

The candles they created are often startlingly original: one spins on a pedestal, surrounded by three animatronic interrogation lamps; another resembles barbed wire; and yet another was made into a flower pot containing a live jasmine tree. This was a reference to both the Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East and a protest against the recent crackdown on dissidents, artists and intellectuals in mainland China, the most high-profile victim being artist Ai Weiwei, who has been held by police without charge since April 3.

“It’s interesting how people see this Ai Weiwei thing,” says Leung Dont. “Artists usually make art for its own sake. Now all of a sudden comes Ai Weiwei and they have to think about their freedom to create. Everyone now has to think about the issue of human rights and freedom of speech.”

The issue has particular relevance for Leung, who was fired from his popular RTHK indie music show after playing My Little Airport’s “Donald Tsang Please Die,” a satirical song that criticizes Hong Kong’s chief executive.

Michael Leung (left) and Leung Dont celebrate human rights with art.

Although RTHK’s official reason for sacking Leung was that his work performance was unsatisfactory, many believe he was forced out because the public broadcaster’s management objected to the song’s political message. 

“The most important lesson I learned from that is that you need to learn the house rules before you can do anything,” says Leung. “I know that sounds very Chinese, but it’s the way it works here. If you want to change the rules, you have to be smart about it.”

At last Friday’s opening party, the candles were displayed along Tai Ping Shan Street on wooden A-shaped frames created by local workshop The Cave. Guest speakers included pan-democratic politician Audrey Eu, who spoke about the dangers presented by Article 23, the proposed anti-subversion law shelved after massive public protests in 2003, and Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong, who was detained by Chinese authorities for three years after he was convicted of spying for Taiwan, a charge most dismiss as unfounded.

The show continues until June 10 at Rat’s Cave and Haji Gallery.

“We’re doing it because it’s what we believe -- that all people should have the right to say what they want, with no limits,” says Rat’s Cave co-owner Katol Lo, who is a member of the street art crew Start from Zero.

“We put up an Ai Weiwei sticker on a pole outside [the shop] and the police came by and wanted to remove the whole pole. That’s what we are fighting against.”

“Light Up” runs until June 10. Rat’s Cave, 18 Tai Ping Shan St., Sheung Wan. Haji Gallery, 24 Tai Ping Shan Street, Sheung Wan.

Photographer Bo Puinar Hui on his "Red Chicken Eggs": "In Chinese culture, the birth of a newborn child would be celebrated after its first month, when both mother and child were reassured of life, with the presentation of red eggs, though at the same offering us a reminder of the fragility of life for the most vulnerable in society and the protection they require."

"Freedom of expression is fundamental. There are internet, television  and radios but those are not enough for us to voice out our thoughts.  We get locked up if we speak to displease our government. Our minds  would probably be "reconstructed" by “the big machine”. This is a work  to encourage everyone to bravely speak out their minds and thoughts,  in order to defend against any devastation of a human's dignity," says Hong Kong indie band Chochukmo about their piece "I'm special. I'm special."

Gallery 27 manager Sunnie Chan on her piece "To Treasure": "We won't forget if it is of such importance. Does anyone remember that it is priceless? It is so priceless that we would have to go for it at the cost of blood, sweat and even our lives. But this is an easier, more comfortable era now. Time changed. It is fragile. Like roadside flowers. It vanishes without capturing your glimpse. Another glimpse, anyone? A memory for these unique, beautiful little flowers that bloom all out, like youth. Anyone?"

Street artists Graphic Airlines on their piece "NOT THAT WE CAN STAND": "Who wants to sit on a cutting pad like a piece of meat up for chops, vanish without reason, castrated by the white fear, tortured in secret prisons, silence however fuels them. Say no to totalitarianism! Say no to injustice!"

Artist Kacey Wong on his piece "Drift City": "This is a story, a story about the city with a soon-to-be-forgotten skyscraper as the main character, who does not remember when it was built and neither the residents who once lived there. In its lost memory there seems to be a mission, yet there is no idea what it exactly is. The character drifts in space, between reality and utopia, endlessly searching for its ideal city."

MC Yan on his piece "Local Heat": "In this 'Light Up' project, the artist tried to raise a simple question: 'Are we using wrongly the sources we have, to 'light up'?"