根據運房局2021年發佈《「劏房」租務管制研究工作小組報告 》，香港2020年有超過十萬個劏房單位，居住人口逾22萬。香港地少人多，各種分間式單位在1950年代已普遍存在，尤其在在油尖旺、深水埗等地區。板間房、籠屋、劏房，名字或許不一，但均是指單位空間狹小、居住條件惡劣的居住空間，攝影師秦偉在2013年出版的攝影集《板間人生》，便記錄一群板間房住客的生活，然而近十年過去，劏房戶的數量及人口不減反增，的確值得社會及政府反思。

《板間人生》聚焦在兩座相連的舊式公寓，一梯兩伙的一個六百呎單位，分間成十餘間四十呎的小板房，居住的人都是低收入或領取綜援的人士，無可奈何屈居於此。劏房住戶一般不願外人介入他們的生活，秦偉能進入他們的世界拍攝，可見背後花費不少時間溝通及相處。他走訪百多戶劏房，有的剛落戶，有的已居住多年；有失去右腿的張先生、有因失業而生活拮据的人，有待業中的精神病患者，有年屆六旬的體力勞動者……這也是貧窮者的寫照。

板間房大多沒有窗戶，廚廁均要共用，不僅空間狹窄，木板的床蝨更是滋擾；香港的夏季天氣炎熱，也是床蝨肆虐之時，其中一張照片展示一瓶所捕獲的木蝨，更令人驚訝且心酸。在窄小的空間裏，人們最主要的消遣就是看電視，由於長期獨處及生活上的挫敗， 也令這班長期生活在貧窮下的住客，容易產生疏離、焦慮及情緒壓抑的問題。

秦偉透過《板間人生》，帶領觀者走進一個個是城市中不為人知的角落，一個個封閉而私密的空間。這些生活在板間房的人，儘管家徒四壁，面對攝影師的相機，也可見他們從容面對鏡頭，沒有激動的情緒，大部分的臉孔也不見愁緒。攝影集揭示當今社會奉行菁英主義價值觀背後所蘊藏的景象，以及低下階層、弱勢群體所面臨的種種困境。

·《板間人生》攝影集可於「顯影·書櫃」購買

The text below is an excerpt from  www.chunwaiphoto.com

Chun Wai’s Cubicle Life narrates the livelihood of the poor in Hong Kong. These people have no alternative but to dwell in cubicles that have an area of only three to four square meters. These cubicles usually do not have windows; thus, the air does not circulate, and the atmosphere becomes stuffy. The room is unbearably hot in summer, and bed bugs run rampant, making it an extremely harsh living environment.

People dwelling in these cubicles are mainly the grassroots who have no means of changing their destiny. They barely exist below the poverty line, with poor quality of life and confined social networks, and thus often live in a passive, lost, alienated, and melancholy, sub-health mental state of mind.

The stories of cubicle dwellers are presented from cinematic angles through touching scenes, portraits, and point-of-view shots. With great sensitivity to color and tonal subtleties, a highly coherent body of powerful images has been created. Chun Wai deftly uses medium shots and close-ups to connect and interact with the subjects. The results were honest yet unobtrusive – to capture the characters on camera with their dignity.

Martin Heidegger, exploring Taoism in his later years, ruminated over the phrase:

‘Poetically man dwells.’

This is a state of life.

We must remove the shackles of alienation and oppression before we can end inhuman states of existence and enable every individual to reach their true potential.

Cubicle Life highlights the lives buried under the dictates of elitism revered by our society. It also exposes the plight of the underprivileged in a situation where they are deprived of any opportunity for upward mobility. It also attempts to find out the meaning of life and the worth of human existence.