Over 250 Kowloon-themed art pieces created by some 650 Hong Kong students will be showcased in the first community exhibition at the West Kowloon Cultural District.
The exhibition, hosted jointly by the Hong Kong Tourism Board and the Education University of Hong Kong from June 1-17, will also feature 12 highlight pieces by the university's students.
They include an installation made from more than 80 bamboo sticks commonly used as clothes hangers on rooftops of tenement buildings in the old part of western Kowloon that has been mounted on a canvas measuring 1.8 meters by 1.8m.
Creator and fourth-year university student Emily Tsang Hok-lam said the piece was inspired by her childhood memories of growing up on Shanghai Street.
"When I was around four to five I used to run around and play hide-and-seek with my cousin on the rooftop of our building where quilts were hung on these bamboo sticks," she said.
Tsang said colorful protective plastic film on the surface of the poles peels off after heavy use, which inspired her to use this deterioration process in her streetscape.
The artwork - appropriately called Aging - expresses the 22-year-old Tsang's sentimental view about the changes in old Yau Ma Tei.
The right half shows a pawnshop sign and the left one for a mirror and glass store.
Another artwork is a Chinese ink painting of Yau Ma Tei, Jordan and western Kowloon in a bird's-eye view, with a dragon and a tiger blended into buildings to echo the Chinese idiom "crouching tiger, hidden dragon."
The Journey to West Kowloon exhibition runs at the Arts Pavilion in the cultural hub from June 1 to 17. Admission is free.
The exhibition is among "surprise" features by the board under the Arts in Hong Kong program for visitors to enrich their neighborhood experiences and memories.
Another surprise is a new online platform to allow people to visit three attractions - Tai Kwun in Central, M+ in West Kowloon and the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre in Shek Kip Mei, each with customized virtual figures.
The tourism board has also created an interactive map with arts and cultural guides for each cultural hot spot.
Also to promote the SAR, the board is organizing Hong Kong-themed arts events by inviting "Hong Kong super fans" active in the arts and cultural field.
Meanwhile, 78 of 99 hotels in the board's Staycation Delights program were booked fully by yesterday. And all 30,000 places in the first round of local tours have been taken.
A second round of local tours will be launched next month, with the tourism board reminding people to hold retail and catering receipts for spending of HK$800 or more so they can enroll in the program.
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