Hong Kong / China Photographers One
So Hing-keung
Asia One
Text by Oscar Ho
208 pages
213 mm x 278 mm
Hardcover
ISBN: 9789881704177
The first volume of the extensive Hong Kong Photographers series, this book portrays So Hing-keung’s fascinating career as Hong Kong’s ‘photographer-explorer’. So’s major photographic series of the past two decades – Reflections on China, Still Night, This Mortal Coil: Alienated Urban Landscape, South China Portraits and Transformation of Matter – are presented in detail, giving the reader a deep insight to a photographer of unique sensitivity. From his explorations of pre-1997 British colonial rule to the post-1997 Special Administrative Region, from his physical surroundings to his inner psyche, from colour to monochrome, So leads viewers on a visual and spiritual journey. His search for images is also the metaphoric search for a deeper meaning, for identity and existence, experienced by every soul.
About the Artist:
Born in Hong Kong in 1959, So Hing-keung is one of our era’s renowned photographers. Also an educator, he is currently the director of Keung Imaging Workshop and teaches photography at local tertiary institutions. After gaining a BA in photographic design with First Class Honours from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 1994, So continued his studies in America with the Asian Cultural Council Fellowship for Photographic Studies in 1995. He was also awarded the Hong Kong Arts Development Council Fellowship for Artistic Development in 1998, and the Judges Award, Gold Awards, at the Hong Kong Institute of Professional Photographers Awards in both 1997 and 1999. Over the years, his works have been exhibited in 32 solo and 51 group exhibitions and are collected by museums, universities, galleries and individuals locally and overseas.
About the Author:
Oscar Ho is a curator, artist, art critic and art educator. He was once a Hong Kong art policy researcher. In the late 70’s, he studied and lived in North America for nearly 10 years. He was first trained as a painter then turned to create sculptural works. During his university days, he was deeply influenced by his professors who introduced him to look at art and culture from the Marxist and anthropological approaches. And what Oscar Ho found most rewarding was to study with a group of ‘Californian Funk’ artists and classmates, from whom he learned that the most important aspect of art making is to integrate art into one’s life. Oscar Ho gave up using mud and branches after his return to Hong Kong. He turned to use plastic and industrial materials in response to the local urban landscape. Although Oscar Ho sometimes added in political elements into his work, most of these sculptural constructions remained personal. Since 1991 Oscar Ho has created his Stories Around Town series which is far his most important work. He combines local news, fabricated stories and mythology to suggest a city being filled with collective hysteria.
About the Publisher:
Asia One is a fine art publishing house established in 2007. It is based in Hong Kong.
Book Materials and Specifications:
Hardcover book with stitched perfect binding and white end papers glued down. Title on the grey front cover is indented in black and is covered with cloth.
Plates sizes in this book range from 4″ x 7.5″ to 4″ x 10″. Standard photobook layout for the majority of the book, with a caption on the left page and the image on the right. Unusual textured paper for the essay at the start of the book.
