“I think I have opened a door leading to the parallel universe of Victoria Peak on my way of searching.” ~Carol Lee, artist
Victoria Peak is a symbol of Hong Kong, a witness of the city’s history for over a hundred years. Starting from the colonial period, the hill has seen all the ups and downs of the place as we have experienced many changes in the city. However, it is the quiet soil under our feet that has always watched over us. The soil spends days and years here as we do, but it has never changed on the passing of time. For the soil, on one side is a world of physical senses and on the other is a world of intellectual thinking. They are like two parallel universes divided by just a thin line.
“This is the primary soil of Hong Kong. It is always here.” ~A construction site worker
The exhibition traces its origin to a conversation between Carol Lee and a construction site worker at Victoria Peak. Despite all the changes, there is untouched soil in our city. Interested in this fact, Lee wants to relate it to her art. She collected soil from construction sites at different sections of Victoria Peak and studied the colours and characteristics of the soil samples. She tried to find the relationship between soil and land by examining the primary soil using her artistic language. In this exhibition, soil and land have swapped places. The soil buried underground has been transformed into tangible artworks which can be seen, listened to and touched. The stories and history on the land are used as the background concept and presented in an abstract form.
“Going through the process and arriving at the works, I saw a gap in time.” ~Shirky Chan, curator
Lee’s works are often visually minimal and static. She tells her stories in a quiet and restrained way. There is an interesting version about how man is connected with the sky and the land: man stands at the intersection of a vertical line and a horizontal line. The vertical line is light from the sky whereas the horizontal line is the horizon that separates the sky from the land. Lee’s art has always included this “vertical line”. She exposed paper and objects to sunlight, leaving in her works the tracks of light, objects and time. In this new series, in addition to the “vertical line”, she puts her focus on the land. Using the daily life and culture on the “horizontal line” as background, Lee studied the minerals below the line. The vertical line representing sunlight touching the ground, the horizontal line sandwiched between the land surface and underground, and the artist’s own stories are the three elements which form a perfect cross. “Time” again has a crucial role to play in this series. It gives the works a historical perspective, and the timing of digging the soil is an important factor for the works. There is a gap in time between the beginning and conclusion of the series. The world changes rapidly, but things remain unchanged in the alternate one. Lee has turned the known and unknown of the uncertain relationship she discovered in Victoria Peak into her own story.
Exhibition Period
6 December 2022 – 13 January 2023
Time
11am – 8pm (Closed on Sundays & Public Holidays) | Closed at 6pm on 22, 24, 31 December 2022
Opening
9 Dec 2022(Fri) 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Seminar – Dialogue with Hong Kong Soil
7 Jan 2023 (Sat) 3:00pm - 5:00pm
(Onsite @ HKAS Main Campus / Livestream through HKAS alumni network FB)
Artist
Carol Lee Mei Kuen
Curated by
Shirky Chan
「我在尋找中，彷佛打開了一扇通往太平山平行時空的門。」 ~ 藝術家・李美娟
太平山代表着香港，經歷百年變化，帶着香港人的歷史。由殖民地時期開始，這座山見證着我們的悲歡聚散，我們亦看到城市的多變。但牢牢守候着我們的，卻是腳下沉默的泥土。它一直默默地與時代共進，從未改變自己的本質。一個感官世界，一個知性領域，構成兩個一線之隔的平行時空。
「這些是香港原生土，從來未被移動過。」~ 地盤叔叔
展覽由來源於藝術家李美娟在太平山與地盤叔叔的一席話。多變的維多利亞城之下，竟然還有從未變動的泥土一直陪伴着我們。這一點打動了她並開始這次創作的構思，李美娟在太平山不同地段的地盤收集泥土，透過研究與探索，得知它們的顏色與特性。再運用自己的藝術語言，希望從原生土中尋找土與地的關係。 是次展覧，藝術家將土與地原來的位置對調。從來不見天日的地下土變為被看見、聽見、觸碰到的作品；而地上所發生的故事及其歷史，則作為展覧背後的意念源頭，以抽象形態呈現。
「從過程到作品，看到時間的缺口。」 ~ 策展人・陳瑞琦
李美娟的作品在視覺上一直偏向簡約及靜態，用內歛的手法來說故事。曾聽過一個有趣的說法來描述人與天地的關係 ：人的位置，是在直線和橫線的交叉點上。直線由天上射下來的光所形成，橫線就是劃分天地的地平線。一直以來李美娟的創作都包含這直線元素，作品以紙張和物件在陽光下持續曝光，留下了光、事物和時間的痕跡。今次這個系列除了關注這垂直的線，更把注意力放在地上。 李美娟以橫線之上的生活文化作背景，並硏究橫線以下的礦物。 太陽和地下接觸的直線、夾在地表和地下的橫線，加上藝術家自身的經歷，三者構成一個完美的十字。 另外，無論以歷史角度還是地下泥土被挖掘的時機，「時間」在作品佔上重要的位置。這個系列的始與終之間出現時間的缺口。一方事物快速前進，同時另一世界經年不變。李美娟以這段太平山的曖昧關係，把所知與未知轉化成藝術家故事的劇情。
展期
2022年12月6日 – 2023年1月13日
時間
11am – 8pm (星期日及公眾假期休息)| 冬至、平安夜及除夕於下午六時關閉
開幕
2022年12月9日 (星期五) 5:00pm – 7:00pm
研討會 – 與香港原生土對談
2023年1月7日 (星期六) 3:00pm – 5:00pm
(香港藝術學院本部舉行／ 香港藝術學院校友會臉書同步線上直播)
參展人
李美娟
策展人
陳瑞琦