From 2019 to 2020, a social movement surged in Hong Kong opposing the government’s highly controversial amendment of the legislation to allow for extraditions of criminal suspects to mainland China. 

Following the enactment of the National Security Law in July 2020, civil freedoms and liberties that Hong Kong previously enjoyed disappeared overnight. With demonstrations now being deemed illegal, slogans and words that once engulfed every corner of the city, representing the calls and cries of the people, were entirely painted over and whitewashed. 

South Ho surveys this uncanny phenomenon with concern, observing how the superimposition of paint over protest slogans created abstract colour blocks, mirroring the struggle between the people and the State, embodying the zeitgeist of the city. Though now visually obscured, these messages for freedom remain stronger than ever.

Curated by John Tung