CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE

My Hometown and the

A graduate project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

For the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Art,

Visual Arts

By

M W L Morimoto

May 2016

The graduate project of M W L Morimoto is approved:

______Lesley Krane, M.F.A. Date

______Michelle Rozic, M.F.A. Date

______Samantha Fields, M.F.A. Chair Date

California State University, Northridge

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Signature Page ii

Abstract iv

Historical Context

i. Before 1997 1

ii. After 1997 3

iii. Umbrella Movement 5

Personal Background 9

Artistic Influences 11

Creative Process 14

Artistic Approach

i. Documentation of Memory 17

ii. Symbol of Solidarity 19

iii. Allegory of Memorandum 21

iv. Depiction of Violence 23

Conclusion 26

Bibliography 27

Appendix 30

iii

ABSTRACT

My Hometown and the Umbrella Movement

By

M W L Morimoto

Master of Fine Arts in Art, Visual Arts

I am the product of two worlds. I was born in Hong Kong, where I was raised and lived until I moved to the United States. Having lived in Los Angeles, I became a hybrid of

Hong Kong and American cultures, and the influence of American values has had a substantial impact on my life. Denying the influence of my new culture would be to deny a vital part of myself. In addition, I have always had a profound interest in strangers relating to one another and building solidarity within and despite alienating urban environments. One event that inspires my paintings is the Umbrella Movement in 2014; my work both acknowledges and responds to these chaotic demonstrations that I have witnessed through

Internet news and social media. Unable to participate in the movement physically, my frustration and powerlessness led me to create a series of artwork − my expressive black and white ink-wash paintings, watercolor pencil drawings, and appropriated photo-transfers. My work is a direct response to all the agitprops created by the Hong Kong protesters, from the umbrellas they used to protect themselves from tear gas and pepper spray, the giant banners hanging high on the freeways, and the thousands of sticky notes covering the concrete staircase of the Legislative Council. My paintings embody my personal expressions and psychological reflections on Hong Kong’s struggle for true democracy.

iv

Historical Context

i. Before 1997

In order to understand the context of the Umbrella Movement and how it informs the aesthetics of my work, a brief historical and political background about Hong Kong and the Umbrella Movement becomes indispensable. A British colony for over one hundred fifty years, Hong Kong slowly transformed from a fishing village into a major international and financial center connecting the East and the West economically, socially and culturally.1 Under the United Kingdom’s governance, the ancestral Chinese residents, who thought of Hong Kong as a temporary displacement, had generated the “refugee mentality” of borrowed place and time, believing Hong Kong would eventually return to mainland China.2 However, the unique identity of being “Hongkongers” developed over time. Hong Kong government was divided into independent branches, a model similar to the system in the United Kingdom, comprised of a legislature, executive, and judiciary branch, entirely different from Mainland China’s government.3 In 1984, the United

Kingdom and China negotiated the sovereignty of Hong Kong as a result of the Sino-

British Joint Declaration that stated Hong Kong turned into a “Special Administrative

Region,” keeping political and legalistic autonomy.4 In 1997, the transference from the

British government to Mainland China’s government was a critical juncture that

1 Andrew E. Benjamin and Charles Rice, Walter Benjamin and the Architecture of Modernity (Melbourne, Australia: Re.press, 2009), 166. 2 Paul Theroux, “Op-Ed: Memories That Drive Hong Kong,” The New York Times on the Web, June 10, 1997, accessed March 04, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/06/18/specials/theroux-honged.html 3 Richard Wong, “Different Legal Traditions Keep Hong Kong and China Apart,” South China Morning Post, October 6, 2015, accessed March 3, 2016, http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight- opinion/article/1864598/different-legal-traditions-keep-hong-kong-and-china-apart?page=all. 4 Joseph Y. S. Cheng, “The Democracy Movement in Hong Kong,” International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs) 65, no. 3 (1989): 443. 1 stipulated Hong Kong would be governed under the principle of “one country, two systems.”5 The people of Hong Kong were promised a high degree of autonomy. The

"basic laws" formed under the constitution of the British government would remain unchanged for fifty years. 6 However, the past behavior of the Chinese government aroused the doubtful credibility of such commitment.7

5 “One Country, Two Systems,” China Facts & Figures, 2006, accessed March 08, 2016, http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/china/203730.htm. 6 Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, Article 5, March 17, 2008, accessed March 04, 2016, http://www.basiclaw.gov.hk/en/basiclawtext/chapter_1.html. 7 Yannie Chan, “The End of Hong Kong?" HK Magazine, October 02, 2014, accessed March 04, 2016, http://hk-magazine.com/article/12707/end-hong-kong. 2

ii. After 1997

Since 1997, a new generation of Hong Kong students has become socially and politically active as we witness the end of the golden era after the British regime.

Although Hong Kong’s appearance has not changed much, the rules of law in Hong

Kong are gradually withering, at the same time, the younger generation believes in the spirit of democracy. The great wealth disparity, the social and cultural conflicts between local Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese people, the decline in freedom of press and journalism, and the government’s inattention to demands made by Hong Kong residents illustrate the slow collapse of Hong Kong’s spirit.8 As a result, several important social movements occurred.

In 2011, the Education Bureau of Hong Kong tried to replace civic education with

“Moral and National Education.” This led to a public outcry − many teachers and students saw this as a tool to brainwash the younger generation with Central Government propaganda.9 Some of the most vocal opponents were high school students including

Joshua Wong, Oscar Lai, and Agnes Chow who formed to stand against the implementation of the curriculum.10 College students also participated. The Hong Kong

Federation of Students, a student-led organization across all universities and colleges that previously focused on individual issues, such as welfare and education, has become increasingly involve the larger civil policy of Hong Kong society in the recent years. As a

8 Mia Lamar, Fiona Law, and Isabella Steger, “Political Generation Rises in Hong Kong,” The Wall Street Journal, December 10, 2014, accessed March 04, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/political-generation- rises-in-hong-kong-1418234231. 9 Alexis Lai, “‘National Education’ Raises Furor in Hong Kong,” CNN, July 30, 2012, accessed March 04, 2016, http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/30/world/asia/hong-kong-national-education-controversy/. 10 Anne Marie Roantree and Venus Wu, “Hong Kong Student Leaders Report to Police over Democracy Protests,” Reuters, January 16, 2015, accessed March 3, 2016, http://www.reuters.com/article/us- hongkong-politics-idUSKBN0KP0M420150116. 3 call for student participation, , one of the college student leaders, claimed,

“We are the generation chosen by the times” (被時代選中的我們).11 Together they organized protests, class boycotts, and hunger strikes to demand reforms and government accountability. Suddenly, I realized that the younger generation is no longer politically apathetic. Their actions helped me to become more attentive to the larger social and political challenges we face in Hong Kong.

A campaign, "Occupy Central with Peace and Love," advocated peaceful and nonviolent “dialogue, deliberation, authorization by citizens and civil disobedience” 12 and was introduced to the public in early 2013 by , Associate Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong; this campaign eventually formed the Umbrella

Movement. The image of demonstrators lifting up their hands to show their nonviolent intentions to police became a symbol of the campaign.13 Participants needed to bear the legal responsibility of the premise in order to occupy economic and political areas in

Hong Kong. This strategic action aimed to paralyze the daily operation of society and put pressure on the Hong Kong and Chinese governments in order for Hongkongers to negotiate a future for a fair and democratic society. Organizers also held conferences, seminars, and question-and-answer sessions to stimulate public awareness of political and legalistic autonomy in Hong Kong.14

11 Lily Kuo, Heather Timmons, and Jason Karaian, “The Hong Kong Government-protester Sit-down Finally Took Place-and Nobody is Satisfied,” Quartz, October 21, 2014, accessed March 4, 2016, http://qz.com/284510/the-hong-kong-government-protester-sit-down-is-finally-taking-place-and-streaming- live/. 12 Occupy Central with Love and Peace, “Manifesto,” Occupy Central with Love and Peace, March 27, 2013, accessed March 8, 2016, https://oclphkenglish.wordpress.com/about-2/manifesto/. 13 Lily Kuo, “‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot’ Comes to Hong Kong’s Pro-democracy Movement,” Quartz, September 28, 2014, accessed March 8, 2016, http://qz.com/272630/hands-up-dont-shoot-comes-to-hong- kongs-pro-democracy-protest-movement/ 14 Occupy Central with Love and Peace, “Manifesto.” 4

iii. Umbrella Movement

The Umbrella Movement was extemporaneously associated with a series of sit-in street protests led by a coalition of students and the general public that began after the

Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) came to a decision regarding proposed reforms to the Hong Kong democratic election.15 NPCSC stated that instead of a fair democratic election, the Chinese government exercises control over which chief executive candidates are permitted to present themselves to the Hong Kong electorate.16 NPCSC publicized an extremely restrictive bar against future reforms to

Hong Kong’s electoral system on August 31, 2014, a significant incident that touched off the movement. 17 This was in direct contradiction to Hong Kong Basic Law Article 45, that states Hong Kong citizens have the right to an election of chief executive by direct , and students reacted by organizing a series of protests to express their discontent with the proposed resolution. 18 The protestors demanded the Hong Kong government and the NPCSC to withdraw the resolution, and allow the Hong Kong people to hold a true democratic election for the Chief Executive in 2017.19

A “Peaceful, Rational, Non-violent and No-swearing” approach was widespread and understood by the public that developed a series of student-led protests which

15 Lily Kuo, Heather Timmons, and Jason Karaian, “The Hong Kong Government-protester Sit-down Finally Took Place-and Nobody is Satisfied.” 16 Michael Martina and James Pomfret, “Hong Kong Braces for Protests as China Rules out Full Democracy,” Yahoo! News, August 31, 2014, accessed March 04, 2016, http://news.yahoo.com/china- slams-door-shut-full-hong-kong-democracy-090319614--business.html. 17 Ibid. 18 Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, Article 45, March 17, 2008, accessed March 04, 2016, http://www.basiclaw.gov.hk/en/basiclawtext/chapter_4.html. 19 Michael Martina and James Pomfret, “Hong Kong Braces for Protests as China Rules out Full Democracy.” 5

became the prelude of the Umbrella Movement. 20 On September 22, 2014, the Hong

Kong Federation of Students launched a five-day class boycott. College students at

fourteen universities with the support of more than three hundred educators that

demanded true democracy to select a Chief Executive without the pre-selection of

candidates.21 Taking the classrooms into the streets, claiming “Boycott Classes, Continue

Learning,” the sit-ins started from university squares to public parks, and later next to the

Legislative Council Complex. As the participants increased, over 13,000 people joined

the demonstrations.22 Four days later, high school students joined the protest. The

protesters were mostly students

who were remaining peaceful and

rational.23 The Hong Kong

Government did not positively

respond to the five-day sit-in. This

led the students to escalate their

action. Lam, Yik Fei. Hong Kong. 2014. Getty Images. On September 27, the students attempted to occupy "Civic Square," a public open

space east of the Central Government Offices that was fenced off due to the sit-ins. The

conflict between the police and the demonstrators was live-streamed on the internet. I

witnessed the police using batons and pepper spray to disperse people in the crowd who

20 Guobin Yang and Ran Liu, "Hong Kong's Umbrella Generation," Boston Review, January 7, 2015, accessed May 11, 2016, https://bostonreview.net/blog-world/guobin-yang-ran-liu-birth-hong-kong- umbrella-generation. 21 Clare Baldwin and James Pomfret, “Hong Kong Students to Boycott Class to Protest China Curbs on Democracy,” Reuters, September 20, 2014, accessed May 11, 2016, http://www.reuters.com/article/us- hongkong-china-idUSKBN0HF0MR20140920. 22 Tony Cheung and Jeffie Lam, “Thousands Join Hong Kong Students' Democracy Protest as Classroom Boycott Begins,” South China Morning Post, September 23, 2014, accessed March 08, 2016. 23 Ibid. 6 used umbrellas as a sign of serenity and as shields to block pepper spray. I was both a bystander and witness to the confrontation. Police surrounded the demonstrators and started a clearance operation on the morning of September 27.24 Supporters arrived and surrounded the police who kettled the young protesters. Throughout the day, more and

more supporters showed up to

participate. On the dawn of

September 28, Professor Tai

announced the launch of civil

disobedience now coined the

25 Hong Kong. 2014. Getty Images. Umbrella Movement.

That morning, the protest reached an impasse when police sectioned off the protest area that blocked the demonstrators’ entrance. The mass overflew to Harcourt

Road and other main traffic arteries in the area.26 The civil disobedience that immobilized the city became tangible. However, riot police tried to quell the demonstration by increasing their use of force including eighty-seven tear gas deployments, against peaceful student and citizen strikers. The conflict erupted into public indignation as a result of the large-scale occupation from Central to Causeway Bay and Mongkok, which were occupied seventy-nine days from 26 September to 15 December, 2014.27 At the end

24 Elizabeth Barber and Charlie Campbell, “Hong Kong Students Clash With Police,” Time, September 27, 2014, accessed March 08, 2016, http://time.com/3434099/protest-arrested-hong-kong-democracy-students- occupy-central/. 25 “Thousands at Hong Kong Protest as Occupy Central Is Launched,” BBC News, September 27, 2014, accessed March 08, 2016, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-29397738. 26 Wu Mago, “928 Jim Ling Chung Wan Hang Tong, Ha Hawk To King Man hung Took Chuen Ching Luk Ying” 928 佔領中環行動夏愨道警民衝突全程錄影 [928 Occupy Central Movement: a full video of Police and Protestors Clashing on ]. Filmed [Sept 2014]. YouTube video, 41:57. Posted [Sept 2014]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GND6nZPW0f8. 27 Mabel Sieh, “For Hong Kong, It's Just the Beginning,” The Mantle, January 21, 2015, accessed March 08, 2016, http://www.mantlethought.org/international-affairs/hong-kong-beginning. 7 of the conflict, the decision to pre-select candidates by the Chinese government was not repealed and the protesters still fight for change today.28

Santana, Wally. Hong Kong. 2014. Associated Press.

28 Kristie Lu Stout, “What Became of Hong Kong's 'umbrella' Protesters?” CNN, August 28, 2015, accessed March 08, 2016, http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/27/asia/hong-kong-protests-one-year-later/. 8

Personal Background

I was born and raised in Hong Kong during the British colonial period. My experience in Hong Kong informed my earlier research as an artist focused on the relationships among anonymous people in a large metropolitan area. I experienced loneliness and doubt as I was growing up in this densely populated city and was often surrounded by apathetic, profit-driven residents who were swayed by the Western influence of capitalism, individualism, and materialism. Since the British government relinquished Hong Kong to

Mainland China in 1997, the relationships and connections among people in the city have shifted. The new political administration and the changing urban environment compelled me to raise questions about the personal, familial, communal and national identity of

Hongkongers.

Moving to Los Angeles in 2008, I am always finding myself having to re-position my perspective and establish new connections with others. Culture shock and my unfamiliarity with Los Angeles overwhelmed me with solitude, alienation, and anxiety. I found the isolation I experienced in the States similar to how I felt when I stood in congested business districts in Hong Kong. As a result, I seek to reconstruct my daily experience of loneliness and cultural displacement in my artwork. I had regarded Hong Kong people within the urban environment as an alien entity, and the Umbrella Movement changed my disposition from apathy to a sense of solidarity.

When I learned about the movement on the Internet, I felt strangely yet intimately connected to the protesters, even though I did not know them personally. Acknowledging my identity as a Hongkonger empowers my role as a witness whose work embodies Hong

9

Kong’s history of social, cultural, and political change. Making my artwork allows me to participate in the movement and incorporate the combination of melancholy, anguish, frustration, and helplessness that I have experienced as a result of my physical distance. This participation is also important to other artists from Hong Kong, as poet Mary Jean Chan clearly illustrates in her poem, “From a Distance”:

Some things are not clearer from a distance. What grief moves you to sit-ins, marches, words that reverberate across generations, and tears for a city that was never ours to keep? Perhaps my faith in democracy never took root in the city that has been steered through the years by the firm hand of financiers and the edicts of the English; now quivering between two possible futures. 29

Her words reassure me that I am not alone and that others have witnessed the demonstrations from afar. Even though I am far from home, I participate in and respond to the movement through my artwork.

29 Mary Jean Chan, “From a Distance,” Cha: An Asian Literary Journal no. 25, September 2014, accessed May 11, 2016, http://www.asiancha.com/content/view/1901/473/ 10

Artistic Influences

Ai Weiwei’s and Do-Ho Suh’s artworks in virtual and tactile materialities have influenced the intention, direction, medium, and process of my artmaking. Ai’s idea of social responsibility against the backdrop of civil protest impacts me. At the same time, the personal aspect of cultural displacement in Suh’s works influences my own. I realize that being an artist is not just about making artwork to express oneself, but also to explore and expose ethical dimensions, such as humility, social justice, and cultural differences.

One of the most prominent Chinese artists in the contemporary art world, Ai

Weiwei claims that the utmost important value of artists and scholars is their social responsibility, because “that’s what most people automatically give up. Just to protect yourself, as an individual is very political. You don’t have to march on Tiananmen, but you have to be clear-minded, to find your own way of expression.”30 His words affect my intentions in making art.

Throughout Chinese history, censorship and dictatorship imposed by authorities have consistently eliminated human rights of expression and realization, and motivated intellectuals, scholars, and artists. After the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in the

1960’s, the suppression of freedom led many artists to create works that relate to freedom of expression and the sovereignty of art. After bearing witness to the Cultural Revolution,

Ai commented that

The whole society was like a dead society. It was under the communist ideology control. Anybody who’s doing anything different can risk their life, be put in jail, or bear severe punishment. We were a bunch of young kids then, and we didn’t believe in the old propaganda art. We started to practice our own type of

30 Ai Weiwei, Ai Ueiuei - Nani Ni Yotte? アイ・ウエイウエイー何に因って? [Ai Weiwei: According to What?] (Tokyo: Mori Art Museum, 2009), 168. 11

expressions, which relates to artistic freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of exercise in individual feelings. It’s a very important movement, because that movement was the core of any type of art.31

The work Ai made in 2008 about Sichuan earthquake is the most powerful piece that I like. The artworks, encouraging the general public in China to exercise freedom of speech under imposed censorship and dictatorship, used the Internet as a medium to create the work. Although Ai was well-known for working with traditional forms, such as sculpture, architecture, and furniture that were influenced by the Chinese Cultural

Revolution and Western popular culture, his Citizens’ Investigation series reveals his transformation as a socially and politically concerned artist. He strongly believes that

The Internet is such a beautiful miracle for the society here, like China, because we are still living under a very restricted dictatorship. You know, we are still dealing with a very restricted control on freedom of expression. And the Internet probably is the only vehicle for people to even sense there's another person who shares the same idea or who can offer different information about what is happening. And that is the foundation for civil society.32

I identify with Ai’s experience of witnessing horrific occurrences while enjoying freedom in the United States. It is similar to my experience witnessing the Umbrella Movement in

Hong Kong from afar.

On the other hand, Korean artist Do-Ho Suh shares his feelings of nostalgia and yearning through his work. Translucent fabric stitched to form his house in Korea and other, traditional buildings comprised installations that toured the United States and globally. Suh states that “…at some point in your life, you have to leave your home. And whenever you go back, it’s just not the same home anymore. I think home is something

31 Uta Grosenick and Caspar H. Schübbe, “All the Arts Are the Same - and Different,” In China Art Book: The 80 Most Renowned Chinese Artists (Keulen: DuMont, 2007),18. 32 Jeffrey Brown, “Art, China and Censorship According to Ai Weiwei,” PBS, December 11, 2012, accessed May 10, 2016, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment-july-dec12-weiwei_12-11/ 12 that you carry along with your life.”33 The sensation of revisiting familiar environments or one’s homeland struck me when I visited the installation. Seeing the translucent building established a dream-like environment. The uncertainty of looking at familiar buildings tempted me to touch them. Suh states “… I’ve noticed that I have this longing for a particular space (home) and just want to recreate it or bring it wherever I go. So the choice of material was fabric. I had to make something light and transportable, something that you can fold and put in a suitcase and bring with me all the time.”34As a consequence, his work influenced the use of fabric and other portable materials in my work.

33 Do Ho Suh, "’Seoul Home/L.A. Home’—Korea and Displacement,” Art 21, November 2011, accessed May 10, 2016, http://www.art21.org/texts/do-ho-suh/interview-do-ho-suh-seoul-home-la-home-korea-and- displacement. 34 Ibid. 13

Creative Process

Computer screen capture. 2014.

Influence by Ai and Suh, I focused on the Umbrella Movement, which happened

in my hometown and became the source for my work. Visual inspiration from the

Internet and social media, emotional feelings of fear and helplessness, and the

psychological sensation of alienation became significant aspects of my work.

Internet images and footage containing iconic elements, including umbrellas,

banners, sticky notes, police batons, helmets, mask, pepper spray, tear gas, and warning

signs became primary images used in my artmaking. I saw a number of news items about

class boycotts and protests in Hong Kong when I checked Facebook on the morning of

September 22, 2014. Thereafter, I continued browsing for relevant news on the Internet,

which was promptly updated. Following the news on my computer, tablet, and cellphone

relentlessly, documenting every moment about the demonstration and watching the live

14

feed on the Internet when the situation escalated, I felt as if, I had never left Hong Kong.

The news and photographs I found were not limited to traditional news media. My

friends were involved in the protests and instantly shared their feelings and further

information about the situation on Facebook. Even though I had lived in the United States

for over seven years, watching the live reports online in my native language and seeing

familiar streets on the Internet seemed at once familiar and strange. Staring at the

conflicts on my computer screen, my perception of Hong Kong people suddenly changed.

The sensations of powerlessness and anxiety about the situation compelled me to

express my feelings of melancholy and depression through my work. Although I did not

see any of my friends or family

members on the monitor, the live

scenes of demonstrators clashing

with police made me concerned and

worried about my fellow

Hongkongers. I experienced a

feeling of déjà vu and recalled my Beijing. 1989. Reuters. childhood experiences of watching news footage of the Tiananmen Square protests in

1989 on television. My fear of someone being injured or killed in the protests made me

cry, and I knew I could do nothing to help as a physically detached and powerless witness.

Feeling of loneliness, frustration, powerlessness, and alienation accumulated inside me,

so, I use my artworks to share these feelings and take part in the movement.

“Being born in chaotic turbulent times carries certain responsibilities” (生於亂世

有種責任) is one of the Umbrella Movement’s slogans that describe my goal as a Hong

15

Kong born artist living in Los Angeles. The relationship I witnessed between individuals and society when the Umbrella Movement developed changed my perspective about my own environment in the States. The student-led movement formed by a younger generation that shares similar cultural backgrounds, historical experiences, and core values inspires me to use my work as a tool to express my emotions and provoke awareness about the Umbrella Movement. One of the youth leaders, , said,

“I realized that it was very difficult to have religious freedom under a Communist regime, and that quantifiable material things should not be the goal of our lives. Rather, we should be prepared to make sacrifices for values and beliefs.”35 His words prompt me to ask myself, “Why does my work about the Umbrella Movement matter to an American audience?” I live in the United States where people enjoy freedom of speech and social justice, participate in political and social actions, have a voice of policymaking, and have a stake in their future. While Angelinos might not be interested in, understand, or realize what was happening in Hong Kong, I could not express my complicated feelings about events that impacted me. Being a bicultural artist, I want to create a dialogue between

Chinese and American cultures through my artworks and provide my ideas of the truth to pass on to the next generation.

35 Joshua Wong, “Scholarism on the March,” New Left Review 92 (March-April 2015): 44. 16

Artistic Approach

i. Documentation of Memory

My earlier ink painting, News 聞 (figure 1), illustrates the panorama of assorted incidents during the Umbrella Movement. By using East Asian drawing and painting materials, including Sumi ink and eastern paper, and formatting the piece as a long, continuous scroll, I connect my practice to the history of Chinese art. In contrast to these historical tools and styles, I distilled Internet news and social media to establish my own document of the movement in real time. As I watched, I drew images that represented significant moments, moments that left me in tears while witnessing the confrontation.

This notable period in my hometown constrained me to use my own visual language quickly record my personal responses to historical events.

The twenty-four-foot long scroll evokes memories of the civil disobedience in

Hong Kong, while acknowledging the epic historical Chinese painting, Along the River

During the Qingming Festival 清明上河圖 (1085–1145).36 In contrast to the prosperity and stability celebrated in that painting, I use its formal approach to reveal radical, brutal, and chaotic scenes from the Umbrella Movement. In comparison to traditional linear compositions, News uses digital sources and an unrestricted chronology to embody my personal aesthetic. Unsequenced pictorial fragments comprise a personalized narrative.

Similar to a book, the scroll painting encourages careful examination of each depiction vicarious exposure to the protestors’ feelings. Not only does the work serve as a

36 “Along the River during the Qingming Festival | China Online Museum,” China Online Museum, 2016, accessed April 20, 2016, http://www.comuseum.com/painting/famous-chinese-paintings/along-the-river- during-the-qingming-festival/. 17 statement about contemporary Hong Kong politics, but also it functions as a visual time capsule of my memories.

My work explores cultural hybridization: the Chinese culture that I inherited from my homeland and the Western fine art training I received in the United States. Employing the scattered perspective of Chinese painting, my work engages viewers with paintings that guide them through epic, imaginative, and chaotic landscapes. Traditionally, Chinese landscape ink paintings emphasize an artistic conception rather than depicting a realistic scenery; classical Chinese artists pursue the paradox of representation and abstraction in their paintings.37 Different from Western linear perspective, the scattered perspective that was popular in Chinese art reveals multiple viewpoints within the same pictorial space to challenge limitation of fixed perspective compositions. Using different viewpoints and angles, scattered perspective organizes images into the multiple dimensions I experienced in my work.

37 Ya’Nan Yang, “An Analysis on Traditional Chinese Painting Art Characteristic A Case Study of ‘Qunxian Zhushou Tu,’” International Conference on Arts, Design and Contemporary Education (2015): 88, accessed March 9, 2016, www.atlantis-press.com/php/download_paper.php?id=23764. 18

ii. Symbol of Solidarity

撐 Maintain/Support (figure 2), a non-functional umbrella, functions as a memento to remember solidarity and preserve my passion for and optimism about Hong

Kong’s future. The umbrella became a universal symbol for the movement that embodies peaceful and nonviolent civil disobedience.38 My work uses the symbol of the umbrella to represent and maintain social solidarity, freedom, and democracy in Hong Kong; it also promotes perseverance in sustaining one’s belief, ethics, and values in the face of difficulty. This umbrella reminds me to use persuasion in my artworks and encourage others to pursue their own dreams.

To make the umbrella, I digitized and formatted my paintings about the Umbrella

Movement into fragments printed the black and white images onto fabric in order to emulate historical scrolls painted on silk. I cut and stitched the fragments paintings together to illustrate the progression and original intention of the movement. The collapsible umbrella embodies the unified struggle for freedom and democracy during the demonstration. Finding an appropriate umbrella armature in drought-stricken Los

Angeles was difficult; in Asia, umbrellas are inexpensive items that people often carry for protection from the sun, rain, and typhoons. Finding and making an umbrella gave me solace in my frustration and helplessness.

This resilient symbol of solidarity is described by Hong Kong artists Kacey Wong, who says, “If you see a piece of the shield ripped away by the police, it will be replaced

38 John Henley, “How the Umbrella Became a Symbol of the Hong Kong Democracy Protests,” The Guardian, September 29, 2014, accessed March 09, 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/29/umbrella-symbol-hong-kong-democracy-protests. 19 by another.”39 It represents eternal support and a reassuring defense against hopelessness.

Wong considers the umbrella as “a certain emblematic resonance in that it’s a symbol of passive resistance.”40 Watching Internet footages of the protests, I realized that a sea of

umbrellas signifies thousands of

students and members of the

general public who tried to resist

the police’s use of batons and

pepper spray. This invokes a

metaphor written by Japanese

novelist, Haruki Murakami. Hong Kong. 2014. Reuters. Each of us is, more or less, an egg. Each of us is a unique, irreplaceable soul enclosed in a fragile shell. This is true of me, and it is true of each of you. And each of us, to a greater or lesser degree, is confronting a high, solid wall. The wall has a name: It is The System. The System is supposed to protect us, but sometimes it takes on a life of its own, and then it begins to kill us and cause us to kill others − coldly, efficiently, systematically.41

The umbrella became a defenseless and vulnerable shield that strikers tried to shade and protect themselves and one another. Their efforts to defend themselves seemed useless, but they provoked and encouraged others to courageously persist in defense of their beliefs.

39 Tim Hume and Madison Park, “Understanding the Symbols of Hong Kong's ‘Umbrella Revolution,’” CNN, September 30, 2014, accessed March 09, 2016, http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/30/world/asia/objects- hong-kong-protest/. 40 Ibid. 41 Haruki Murakami, “Always on the Side of the Egg,” Haaretz, February 17, 2009, accessed March 09, 2016, http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/culture/leisure/always-on-the-side-of-the-egg-1.270371. 20

iii. Allegory of Memorandum

Inspired by an image of

walls at a demonstration site

covered with sticky notes, I started

a series of small paintings on

colorful tiny sticky notes using ink

and brush. The “” Lee, Yat. Lennon Wall Hong Kong. 2014. Flickr. suggests the song by British singer/songwriter, , Imagine, “You may say I’m a dreamer/ but I’m not the only one”.42 Initially, demonstrators used the sticky notes to ask supporters about and remind them of their reason for unification. Fighting for democracy, demanding the chief executive to step down, and encouraging messages created a stunning, collaborative installation that represents a unified community. The wall declared open defiance of a government that ignored public opinion and imposed police brutality on peaceful protesters.43 The temporal quality of sticky notes (they are easily attachable, removable, and repositionable without leaving a trace), enabled another type of civil disobedience that protesters used to courteously and respectfully assert their rights to freedom of speech without damaging the wall. My version of the splendid

Lennon Wall uses the accumulation of petite notes as canvases to become my consolation and portray my compassion.

42 David Blair, “The Public Artwork of the Hong Kong Protests,” The Telegraph, October 7, 2014, accessed March 09, 2016, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/hongkong/11145726/The- public-artwork-of-the-Hong-Kong-protests.html. 43 Saan Ha Tak Yan 傘下的人 [People Under Umbrellas]. Bei Sze Doi Suen Chong Tak Ngo Moon 被時代 選中的我們 [The Ones Chosen by the Epoch] (Hong Kong: Baak Kuen, 2015), 55-59. 21

Each sticky note I painted becomes a private message, a sort of daily diary, that records and responds to Internet news and social media postings I read during the

Umbrella Movement. My sticky note installation, Messages 留言 (figure 3), functions as a visual outlet and personal dialogue that captures the psychological and emotional moments of the Umbrella Movement. The overwhelming number of colorful memos with black ink paintings of news images, outburst of emotions, and concealed words helped remedy my desolation, melancholy, anxiety, and nostalgia. Although sticky notes begin to deteriorate when they encounter ink, I continue this personal journal using absorbent ground medium. The medium, like fluid gauze, absorbs the ink and preserve my feelings.

This expanding installation illustrates my spiritual and sentimental reflections as well as my meditations on the demonstration.

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iv. Depiction of Violence

The juxtaposition of three large-scale paintings in HKUM (figure 4), using ink, watercolor pencil, and photo-transfers depicting students, police, and protesters, creates an environment for viewers to experience the demonstration’s imposition of violence, fear, and anxiety. Participating in the movement in 2015, I was excited to have my artwork in the exhibition, “It’s Just The Beginning,” an Anniversary Exhibition remembering the Umbrella Movement in Los Angeles. I was overwhelmed by a banner made by protesters using available materials. While the banner looked small hanging over the freeway in Hong Kong, it seemed gigantic when hung inside the gallery in Los

Angeles. Inspired by the protestors’ banners, my banners use affordable muslin onto which I paint graphic gestures and scenes.

Exhibition photo. Los Angeles. Ng, Tom. The Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong. 2014.

For my involvement in the movement, I imagined myself attacked by pepper spray and used ink to illustrate the protestors’ suffering. Ink and brush, frequently used in

Asian culture, are ancient writing and painting materials that I use in my artwork to

23 capture the temperament and nature of my subject, rather than realistic representation.

This approach creates a metaphoric visual language to seize the unseen.44 The “explosion” of ink exemplifies the aftermath of tear gas, this expressive manner of using ink enabling me to expose my complicated emotions of frustration, vulnerability, hopelessness, and sorrow during my geographical separation from the movement. Using ink in my paintings provides the potential to bond expressive sentiment and abstracted landscape. Negative space allows me to emphasize unimaginable events during the uprising while respecting and preserving the protesters’ identities. Working with positive and negative shapes establishes my own narrative to remember the history of the Umbrella Movement. The gestural brushwork and splashes achieves numerous tonalities in grayscale and capture the brutality of a chaotic world.

In my triptych, I used portraiture and print-making techniques to depict students, police, and protesters against tumultuous landscapes, all drawn from frightening spectacles in photographs I found on the Internet. The depiction of student leaders’ faces with black watercolor pencil reads as vague from a distance, yet identifiable when observed closely. In contrast, I capture life-size police figures wearing gas masks, holding pepper spray, and wielding batons, their identities concealed by their tools of dehumanizing suppression. The gray watercolor pencil merges the figures into a dream- like transcendent landscape that heighten tension.

The photo-transfer process uses photocopied images as printing plates onto which printing ink is applied and then transferred onto the painting’s surface. The paper photocopy “plates” slowly dissolve. As the matrix breaks down, there produced image

44 “Landscape Painting in Chinese Art,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2004, accessed March 09, 2016, https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/clpg/hd_clpg.htm. 24 becomes a ghostly glowing imprint, like tangible memories of the Umbrella Movement.

This process preserves the black and white Internet images’ full range of tonalities, revealing subtle figures and signs in black-on-black areas. The repetition of policemen, warning signs, and umbrellas represents the magnitude of solidarity and violence, the triptych embodies the aftermath of the Umbrella Movement and functions as a timely memorial that bears my interpretation of the demonstration and provokes a visual dialogue.

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Conclusion

My goal as an artist is to show my personal journey through my artwork, and I view the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong as an example of people advocating a stand for themselves and their beliefs. My connection to the Hongkongers’ cultural hybridization has become more meaningful because I am both a Hongkonger and a Hong

Kong transplant since moving to the United States. The Umbrella Movement provides a sense of solidarity that affects me as a person and as an artist.

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Appendix

Figure 1 聞 News, Ink on Japanese paper, 11" x 288", 2014.

聞 News (Details), Ink on Japanese paper, 11" x 288", 2014.

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Figure 2 撐 Maintain/Support, Printed fabric on umbrella structure, 42” x 28” x 24” , 2014.

Figure 3 留言 Messages, Ink on Post- it notes, various sizes, 2014-2015.

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Figure 4 HKUM –Students, Protesters, Sumi ink, watercolor pencil, and Xerox lithograph on fabric, 112” x 50 ½”, 2015

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HKUM –Students (Detail), Sumi ink, watercolor pencil, and Xerox lithograph on fabric, 112” x 50 ½”, 2015

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HKUM – Protesters (Details), Sumi ink, watercolor pencil, and Xerox lithograph on fabric, 112” x 50 ½”, 2015

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HKUM –Police, Sumi ink, watercolor pencil, and Xerox lithograph on fabric, 112” x 50 ½”, 2015

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HKUM –Police (Detail), Sumi ink, watercolor pencil, and Xerox lithograph on fabric, 112” x 50 ½”, 2015

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