Description

This book explores personal, transformative experiences amidst Hong Kong’s political upheaval from 2019-2023, focusing on the lives of Hong Kong people, Hong Kong asylum seekers in the UK, and reflects on how a photojournalist should respond to such changes. 

Part 1: Every Time They Ask, I Say I Don't Remember is my personal journey as a photojournalist after the 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests. Through a visual diary spanning three years, this part explores the power and limitations of journalistic photography amidst Hong Kong’s rapid political changes. It captures the vanishing aspects of the city and reveals the profound societal changes that occurred from 2019-2022, as the city underwent the implementation of Hong Kong’s National Security Law (NSL). 

Part 2: Every Time They Ask, We Say We're Waiting shifts the focus to Hong Kong asylum seekers in the UK. My deep connection with these individuals stems from their previous involvement as protestors, which I had documented as a photojournalist. While the UK government introduced the British National (Overseas) visa in response to the NSL, those born after Hong Kong's handover are ineligible and must seek asylum. Many of these young asylum seekers fled to escape criminal charges and consequences tied to the NSL for their participation in the protests. 

Using a suitcase pinhole camera, the second half of the project captures their portraits and personal belongings. The pinhole's poor-quality images could shield their identities, and crystallise the unseen aspects of their lives. It also captures not a single moment but a duration of waiting, much like their experiences in the UK. Apart from interviewing their experiences of forced displacement, I asked each of them to draw their home in Hong Kong from memory, write their daily routine in the UK, and capture everyday life with a disposable camera. These efforts seek to uncover their evolving experiences with time, memory, and the concept of home. The second half of the project wishes to shed light on their overlooked stories and probe into their past in Hong Kong. 

Together, Part 1 & 2 reflect on the dynamics between journalists and their subjects, and our connection with space, memory, and time in the aftermath of a political turmoil. Although Hong Kong appears to have restored to normal, the true impact of the imposed NSL lies in the disappearances and deteriorations that prove challenging for photojournalists to capture. By adopting the unconventional form of a visual diary, this project serves as an experimental endeavour to capture the essence of these everyday disappearances. For asylum seekers who have endured the consequences of the 2019 protests, time takes on a different quality, affording them the opportunity for deeper reflection on their past in Hong Kong as they exist in a state of suspended time. 

Overall, this project offers a glimpse into different personal experiences amidst political turmoil, encouraging reflections on the role of photojournalism in capturing these disappearances and conveying the stories of the individuals involved.