Hong Kong Stories, A Photography & Photobook Exhibition
Photography was introduced to the world in 1839, and Hong Kong became British Empire’s colony in 1841. The coincidence and proximity in time connect photography to Hong Kong’s history. To a certain extent, photographic images construct our impression of Hong Kong. Especially in the 20th century, when many Hong Kong and foreign photographers roamed or passed through Hong Kong, they captured the city’s appearances differently.
PhotogStory is pleased to present “Hong Kong Stories,” a group exhibition of old Hong Kong images, along with more than 50 old Hong Kong photo books by multiple Hong Kong and international photographers, as clues to connect Hong Kong’s stories in the 20th century.
Everyone sees and feels the city from their perspective. Hong Kong is a vibrant city under the lens of the late photographers Yau Leung and Ngan Chun Tung in the 1960s to 1970s. The fleeting moments captured by the French New Wave set photographer Raymond Cauchetier in 1954 reflect people’s simple life. Their photographs left a critical testimony of the precious era.
Hong Kong Stories
Date: 1 August – 17 September 2023
Time: 11am – 8pm
Site: House by Kubrick, 5/F, Cityplaza, Tai Koo
About PhotogStory
PhotogStory is an online Photography platform and Guest Curator based in Hong Kong. We focus on stories of local and international photographers and stories behind classic photos.
PhotogStory is pleased to present “A Revelrous Heterotopia – The South Stand of Hong Kong,” a solo exhibition by Hong Kong photographer Chun Wai at Kubrick in Yau Ma Tei from 3 July to 30 August 2023.
The Chancellors, cardinal, batman, court nobles, disheveled policemen, Snow White, and a lame ballet dancer will be on stage at Kubrick bookstore, surprisingly.
Chun Wai’s photo project – A Revelrous Heterotopia – The South Stand of Hong Kong, is elegant and absurd. For more than 20 years since 1995, he recorded diligently the snippets of life that transpired in the Hong Kong Sevens. With his rigorous visual senses, each captured moment was examined for its inner meaning and metaphor.
The photographer cleverly used the cold background of the concrete wall with a medium gray scale color tone, slowly pushing the inner tension of the image. The hilarious character roles and the comic-style visual element as if they come from an indefinite time and space.
The exhibition is accompanied by the homonymous photo book at the Kubrick bookstore.
The book contains over a hundred portraits and three essays that provide readers with different perspectives, exploring issues such as the reverse thinking inspired by the origin of rugby, the association between the phenomenon of raving fans and the meaning behind the “Carnival Culture” proposed by the former Soviet literary theorist Bakhtin, the relationship between photography and theatre and the language and thinking of photography.
A Reverlous Heterotopia -The South Stand of Hong Kong is a light-hearted, humorous collection of photographs and a photo essay presenting a different thought.
A Revelrous Heterotopia – The South Stand of Hong Kong
Date: 3 July – 30 August 2023
Time: 11:30am-10pm (Every day)
Address: Kubrick, Shop H2, Prosperous Garden, 3 Public Square Street, Yau Ma Tei
秦偉曾多次獲頒人權新聞獎。已出版作品包括《異域狂歡》、《時間的漫遊》、《另一段的地平線》、《在天堂之下》及《板間人生》。作品獲香港大學美術博物館、香港文化博物館、法國Mulhouse市政府、阿根廷薩塔爾當代美術館（Museum of Contemporary Art of Salta，Argentina）收藏。
Born in Hong Kong and educated at the École supérieure des beaux-arts de Mulhouse in France, photographer Chun Wai’s perspective lies in his humanistic vision and macro-historical framework in interpreting the changing world. His project covered a vast area in the region, including Hong Kong. His work is full of a sorrowful yet romantic mood and reveals his personal landscape. The phantasmagorical image like a rhythm poem of a stray, is a unique work of art.
About PhotogStory
PhotogStory is an online Photography platform and Guest Curator based in Hong Kong. We focus on stories of local and international photographers and stories behind classic photos.
At the occasion of the French May Arts Festival 2023, Boogie Woogie Photography & PhotogStory are pleased to present “French+,” a group exhibition at the Loft in Wong Chuk Hang from 4th May to 3rd June 2023 together with the prestigious Kraemer Gallery from Paris presenting 18th-century French museum quality furniture and decorative art.
+ means more and extra, which also denotes infinite possibilities. French+ is not just about French art but also language, culture, and lifestyle.
The exhibition comprises eleven French photographers and artists’ artworks. It is our first time exhibiting paintings with acclaimed Monaco-based expressionist painter Philippe Pastor. Using living matter, its transformation through time and immediate surroundings, combining soil, pigments, minerals, and plants of all kinds, Philippe Pastor represents his vision of life, environmental destruction, and Man’s involvement in society.
We are also happy to be representing Elsa Jeandedieu, Hong Kong-based muralist. On view is a personal tondo, inspired by the Mediterranean Sea, made of plaster and copper leaves.
Florence Levillain’s creative and humorous photos are eye-catching among the photography artworks. She takes the French expressions as inspirations and literally turns the metaphor phrases into pictures. This imaginative photography series aims to raise awareness of the lyricism and humor of French language metaphors.
Florence LevillainFlorence Levillain
Additionally, French+ can be interpreted as a diverse photography style, like Sabine Weiss’s Dior dress, Willy Ronis’s Paris impression, Raymond Cauchetier’s Hong Kong journey, and Thierry Cohen’s surreal starry sky images, which represent the rich and unique French photography culture.
FRENCH+
Date: 4 May – 3 June 2023
Time: 2-7pm (Wednesday – Saturday)
Address: The Loft, 8/F, E. Wah Factory Building,
56-60 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Wong Chuk Hang.
About Boogie Woogie Photography
Boogie Woogie Photography is a company founded in Hong Kong in 2016 to promote photography in Asia. The mission is to act as a platform for galleries, collectors, companies, and photographers aiming to develop photography projects in Hong Kong and Asia.
About PhotogStory
PhotogStory is an online Photography platform and Guest Curator based in Hong Kong. We focus on stories of local and international photographers, and stories behind classic photos.
Thierry Cohen, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
Artists Profile
Bogdan Konopka (b. Poland, 1953-2019)
Born in Poland and an immigrant to Paris in 1989, Bogdan Konopka has been photographing cities he visits or lives in from Europe to China. His images are immediately recognizable whether the subjects are a fragment of nature or an interior space. Using large format or pinhole cameras, Konopka pays close attention to the quality of his photographs. His hand-made gelatin silver prints on chlorobromide paper are mostly contact prints, which have the same size as the original negative to achieve perfection. Konopka’s work was collected by Musée National d’Art Moderne and Centre Georges Pompidou, etc.
Elsa Jeandedieu (b. France,1983)
Hong Kong-based French muralist and visual artist Elsa Jeandedieu has been spreading her creative talents and bringing her beautiful, unique texture artworks and wall murals to spaces from Hong Kong, Shanghai, Paris, Italy, and beyond. Her inspiring energy and creativity have resulted in commissioned wall designs, artworks, and luxury art pieces for many high-profile clients, including CHANEL and Victoria’s Secret. Elsa moved to Hong Kong in 2008 and launched her eponymous atelier, Elsa Jeandedieu Studio, in 2015, where she now heads up a team of dedicated artists.
Florence Levillain (b. France, 1970)
Florence Levillain began an independent career as a reportage photographer in 1994. She explores various territories ranging from the business world to the streets of the suburbs. She works for the press (Liberation, Le Monde, Paris Match, etc.) and carries out numerous reports abroad on social issues. She won the Kodak Prize in 1999 for reportage on women working at night in Rungis, a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris. Florence Levillain’s work has always focused on rediscovering the universes close to everyone but unknown or forgotten by many. Her new work, “au pied de la lettre,” is an unusual series of photographic works that aims to raise awareness of the lyricism and humor of French language metaphors.
Isabelle Boccon-Gibod (b. France, 1968)
Lives and works in Paris, Isabelle Boccon-Gibod was trained as Engineer in France (Ecole Centrale Paris) and the U.S. (Columbia University, NY). Her life has mixed art and industry throughout her career. Having first worked on collages and installations, she elected photography twenty years ago as her core medium. She attended the Photography School of Brussels, Belgium. Her work is project-based, photography offering the means to explore specific territories. She likes to employ ad-hoc techniques. Her work is collected by Centre Pompidou, Paris.
Jacques Henri Lartigue (b. France,1894-1986)
Known for dynamic photographs of car races and fashionable ladies, Lartigue made a decisive departure from the stiff formality that characterized early photography to capture joyful, carefree scenes of bourgeois leisure. Born into affluence, he documented the excitement of the final years of the Belle Epoque with a gimlet eye and photographed the wealthy vacationers on the French Riviera from the 1920s through the 1960s. Lartigue’s work was underappreciated until the Museum of Modern Art exhibited his photographs in 1963.
Patrice Bodenand (b. France,1958)
Born in France in 1958, Patrice Bodenand made his career in the textile industry, which gave him the opportunity to travel and the desire to discover other countries and cultures. He immigrated to Hong Kong in 2000, then to Mauritius Island and to China, in Qingdao, to return and finish his career in Hong Kong. “What is exciting in photography is to capture a precise moment to fix it in time, even without chronology, but just for memory, individual or shared.”
Philippe Pastor (b. Monaco, 1961)
Philippe Pastor was born in Monaco. He works between Monaco and Spain. Committed to the environment, Philippe Pastor has developed a personalized vision of nature through his work, translating Man’s interaction with the planet. Since 1990 his work has been recognized at Venice Biennale and has been shown around the world. He is the official artist of the Monaco Pavilion at the Universal Exposition EXPO Milano 2015.
Raymond Cauchetier (b. France, 1920-2021)
Raymond Cauchetier was the most famous photographer of the French New Wave. His first photographs were taken in his thirties while serving in the French Air Force press corps in Indochina. Cauchetier traveled through Hong Kong in 1954 and stayed for one week. He left a bouquet of memories, a little yellowed but always authentic.
Sabine Weiss, Chez Dior, Paris, 1958 Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
Sabine Weiss (b. Switzerland, 1924-2021)
Sabine Weiss decided to become a photographer when she was eighteen, during a time when being a photographer was not a common profession, especially for a woman. Sabine Weiss apprenticed under photographers Frédéric Boissonnas and Willy Maywald, and Vogue hired her as a photo reporter and fashion photographer in 1952. Robert Doisneau discovered her photography and asked her to join the humanist-leaning photo agency Rapho, allowing her to work and travel for many other publications such as Time, Life, Newsweek, and Paris-Match.
Thierry Cohen (b. France, 1963)
Thierry Cohen has been a professional photographer since 1985 and a pioneer in the use of digital techniques. He lives and works between Paris and Monségur, close to the Atlantic Coast. Since 2006, he has devoted most of his time to personal work. Thierry is interested in the impact of human activities, particularly on nature. His works are held in private and public collections and regularly exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, and Paris.
Willy Ronis (b. France, 1910-2009)
After selling his first photograph to the newspaper L’Humanité in 1935, Willy Ronis worked as a press photographer. Ronis always linked his personal experience to his work, which also developed and grew through contact with friends and family: portraits of Marie-Anne, his wife (including the famous Le Nu provençal), his son Vincent, his cats, his friends (Robert Capa) and personalities he met (Sartre, Brassaï, etc.) express the same poetics of the universal as the rest of his work.
FRENCH有法文的意思，攝影師Florence Levillain的作品，便透過幽默的影像帶出法語的魅力。法國人每天用上大量生動的法文比喻，卻很少人認真思考及探究這些詞語的由來， 例如「Avoir la tête dans les nuages」(have your head in the clouds) 的字面意思是腦袋在雲朵裡，這當然是誇張的說法，它其實是指心不在焉。攝影師為相片中的女士頭部加上一朵雲，生動地演活這個詞語，帶領觀眾探索法語比喻中的詩意和獨一無二的幽默感。
Bogdan Konopka出生於波蘭，1970年代中期開始攝影，1989年移居法國。他的作品曾在世界各地展出，包括法國龐比度中心。Bogdan Konopka極其注重照片質素，作品大多以8 x 10吋或4 x 5吋菲林的大片幅相機拍攝，然後親自在黑房裏以「接觸印相」(Contact Prints) 的方法製成銀鹽照片，這種方式直接將菲林與相紙進行接觸印製，在相紙上以1:1的比例呈現出菲林底片上的影像，展現出不同深淺的灰階及出色的光暗效果。
1994年，Florence Levillain開始她的獨立攝影師生涯，曾為《Le Monde》及《Paris Match》等報章雜誌拍攝社會問題的報道，最新作品《au pied de la lettre》將語帶雙關的法國詞語，變成一系列充滿超現實風格的影像，以提高人們對法語隱喻的抒情性和幽默感的認識。
Isabelle Boccon-Gibod (法國，1968)
Isabelle Boccon-Gibod是一名工程師，曾就讀於巴黎中央理工學院和紐約哥倫比亞大學。她的職業生涯融合藝術和工業，最初從事拼貼和裝置藝術創作，二十年前她選擇以攝影作為主要創作媒介。她的作品屬於專題式創作，如巴黎橋底風景 (Paris Under The Bridges)、建築物空間 (南法小鎮的E1027別墅) 等。她現於法國巴黎生活和工作，作品被巴黎龐比度藝術中心收藏。
Jacques Henri Lartigue七歲時已拿起相機拍攝，長大後他成為畫家，反而攝影一直是業餘興趣，以輕鬆手法拍攝家人與朋友玩樂的動感畫面。作為金融大亨後代，他的生活過得富裕無憂，看他早期拍攝的照片，不是拍攝汽車、飛機，就是穿著時髦的女人，記錄上世紀初法國「Belle Époque」的美好年代。他原本在攝影圈一直默默無聞，直至1963年現代藝術博物館(MoMA)為他舉辦個展，當年《Life》雜誌也刊登過許多他的攝影作品，令這位大器晚成的攝影師一時間炙手可熱。
Raymond Cauchetier是法國新浪潮電影劇照攝影師，1951年，他隨法國空軍到胡志明市 (舊稱西貢) 服役，當時正值第一次印度支那戰爭，他拍攝空軍的行動以及戰役，為此還得到戴高樂將軍的褒獎。1954年戰爭結束後，他展開遊覽東南亞的旅程，在香港、澳門、越南、柬埔寨、老撾及日本等地拍攝當地的風土民情，在他的舊香港照片中，可見人來人往、掛滿招牌的街道。
Sabine Weiss, Chez Dior, Paris, 1958 Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
Boogie Woogie Photography & PhotogStory are pleased to present “On The Road,” a group exhibition at the Loft in Wong Chuk Hang from 18th March to 29th April 2023.
On this occasion, we are pleased to announce the collaboration with Kraemer Gallery, with notably, on show and available for sale, 18th-century antiques and artwork that provide a contrasting yet harmonious visual backdrop to the more modern photographic prints on display.
The exhibition title comes from American writer Jack Kerouac’s novel “On The Road” published in 1957. As the narrator says in the book: “Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.” The story depicts several youngsters setting out for road trips in the United States. They are immersed in a hedonistic atmosphere and pursue the freedom of life and soul while traveling across America.
Roger Ballen, Motorcyclists, Woodstock, 1969, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
The exhibition comprises fifteen Hong Kong and international photographers’ artworks about their journey, including Raymond Cauchetier and Roger Ballen’s road trip images. These pictures are reminiscent of Jack Kerouac’s novel, which demonstrates people’s lifestyles through various photographers’ perspectives. The photographers also explore their inner world through the journey and lens.
Sal Paradise, the main narrator in the book, is admired for his friend Dean Moriarty’s carefree attitude and sense of adventure. They often drive on the road and experience the joys and struggles encountered along the way. To a certain extent, a car is a tool leading them to their journey of self-exploration. The young men under Roger Ballen’s lens have similarities.
The famous Woodstock Music Festival remains a symbol of the counterculture movement of the 1960s. The 19-year-old college student Roger Ballen not only enjoyed music but also documented this spectacular festival on the spot. People were immersed in music with unrestrained joy. He captured a group of motorcyclists sitting on a car, and their dress and motorbikes reflected the young people’s pursuit of alternative and venturesome spirit in that era.
Stephanie Cheng, From Here (Highway Stop), 2018, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
The road trips advance the novel’s plot. It also inspired many photographers in their works, such as Richard Avedon’s portrait series “In The American West.” As the pictures displayed in the exhibition, Raymond Cauchetier captured cars driving on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Stephanie Cheng took an intimate portrait with an automobile parked on a California highway, which witnessed an incredible American road journey with her close friend.
In the spring of 2018, French photographer Isabelle Boccon-Gibod visited friends in Sun City, a residential community of 5,000 households with strict regulations, which triggered her anxiety. The instant film images of the sun and the road she took during the journey relieved her stress.
James Chung, Hong Kong, 1965, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
Jack Kerouac published his novel in 1957. By coincidence, photographer James Chung bought his first camera almost simultaneously. The cars in the street are noticeable in his images, which can be seen in Yau Leung’s pictures in the 1960s &1970s. Their photos demonstrate a different impression of old Hong Kong.
In addition, Polish photographer Bogdan Konopka captured a dilapidated car on the streets of Wrocław, which presents a sense of desolation. Under the lens of French photographers Willy Ronis and Sabine Weiss, the black and white photos show a vehicle parked on Paris street and Champs Elysees. The readers will be impressed by Jacques Henri Lartigue’s image in the 1910s, in which he captured a speeding race car in the Grand Prix of the Automobile Club of France. With all the pictures which are displayed, everyone has their own “On The Road” story.
On The Road
Date: 18 March – 29 April 2023(Closed on April 5-8)
Time: 2-7pm (Wednesday – Saturday)
Address: The Loft, 8/F, E. Wah Factory Building,
56-60 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Wong Chuk Hang.
Raymond Cauchetier, Golden Gate Bridge, 1954, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
Boogie Woogie Photography is a company founded in Hong Kong in 2016 to promote photography in Asia. The mission is to act as a platform for galleries, collectors, companies, and photographers aiming to develop photography projects in Hong Kong and Asia.
PhotogStory is an online Photography platform and Guest Curator based in Hong Kong. We focus on stories of local and international photographers, and stories behind classic photos.
Known for dynamic photographs of car races and fashionable ladies, Lartigue made a decisive departure from the stiff formality that characterized early photography to capture joyful, carefree scenes of bourgeois leisure. Born into affluence, he documented the excitement of the final years of the Belle Epoque with a gimlet eye and photographed the wealthy vacationers on the French Riviera from the 1920s through the 1960s. Lartigue’s work was underappreciated until the Museum of Modern Art exhibited his photographs in 1963.
Willy Ronis (France, 1910-2009)
After selling his first photograph to the newspaper L’Humanité in 1935, Willy Ronis worked as a press photographer. Ronis always linked his personal experience to his work, which also developed and grew through contact with friends and family: portraits of Marie-Anne, his wife (including the famous Nu provençal), his son Vincent, his cats, his friends (Capa) and personalities he met (Sartre, Prévert, Brassaï, etc.) express the same poetics of the universal as the rest of his work.
Raymond Cauchetier was the most famous photographer of French New Wave cinema. His first photographs were taken in his thirties while serving in the French Air Force press corps in Indochina. Cauchetier traveled through Hong Kong in 1954 and stayed for one week. He left a bouquet of memories, a little yellowed but always authentic.
Sabine Weiss decided to become a photographer when she was eighteen, during a time when being a photographer was not a common profession, especially for a woman. Sabine Weiss apprenticed under photographers Frédéric Boissonnas and Willy Maywald, and Vogue hired her as a photo reporter and fashion photographer in 1952. Robert Doisneau discovered her photography and asked her to join the humanist-leaning photo agency Rapho, allowing her to work and travel for many other publications such as Time, Life, Newsweek, and Paris-Match.
James Chung embarked on his journey in photography in 1957 when he acquired his first Rolleicord. Entirely self-taught, he became a full-time movie-still photographer in 1963. James started his studio in North Point In 1968, focusing on portraits for commercials and print enlargement. His achievements in photography were further recognized by the Honorary Fellowship from the Photographic Society of Hong Kong and Fellowship from the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain later. The Hong Kong Heritage Museum collects his works.
Dubbed the “Cartier-Bresson of the East”, Fan Ho patiently always waited for the decisive moment. His images are often a collision of the unexpected, framed against a very clever composed background of geometrical construction, patterns, and texture. He often created drama and atmosphere with backlit effects or through the combination of smoke and light. His favorite locations were the streets, alleys, and markets around dusk or life on the sea. His works were in many private and public collections, including the M+ Museum & the Heritage Museum in Hong Kong, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in the USA, and many more.
Yau Leung is one of Hong Kong’s most accomplished documentary photographers. During his lifetime, he worked for various magazines and publications. He was a photographer at Cathay Organisation (Hong Kong) from 1965 to 1970. In 1971, he worked for Shaw Brothers Studio’s film magazine Southern Screen. Yau Leung edited and published several books on his images, including Lu Feng Stories (1992), Growing Up in Hong Kong (1994), and City Vibrance: Hong Kong (1997).
Takeshi Shikama’s life ambition is to capture the “invisible” world that lingers beyond the visible world of the trees. Each photograph is hand-printed by Takeshi Shikama, using the ancient platinum/palladium technique, considered the highest quality in black and white photographic printing. The Japanese Gampi paper on which he prints is a handmade UNESCO national treasure. It requires a great deal of time and manual labor, which reflects the intimacy Shikama has with his subject matter.
Roger Ballen’s photographs span over forty years, and he is one of the most influential and important photographic artists of the 21st century. His strange and extreme works confront the viewer and challenge them to come with him on a journey into their minds as he explores the deeper recesses of his own. Roger Ballen is one of the artists representing South Africa at the Venice Biennale 2022 in Italy.
Born in Poland and living in Paris, Bogdan Konopka was a travel photographer. From Europe to China, Konopka has been taking photographs of cities he visits or lives. Whether the subjects are a fragment of nature or an interior space, Konopka’s images are immediately recognizable. Using large format or pinhole cameras, Konopka pays close attention to the quality of his photographs. His hand-made gelatin silver prints on chlorobromide paper are mostly contact prints, which have the same size as the original negative to achieve perfection. Konopka’s work is in many collections, such as Musée National d’Art Moderne and Centre Georges Pompidou.
Rensis Ho, a well-known Hong Kong photographer, studied finance in New York and then majored in photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology. After returning to Hong Kong in the 1990s, he has been engaged in photography for more than 25 years. Rensis is particularly noted for still life and portrait photography and has photographed numerous celebrities, including Kate Moss, Chloe Sevigny, Marc Jacobs, Sakamoto Ryuichi, Anita Mui, etc.
Stephen King (The United States, 1966)
Stephen is an award-winning photographer based in Hong Kong, known for his painterly and carefully composed depictions of the natural and urban landscape. A product of two cultures, Stephen points to his love of Chinese ink and American Abstract Expressionist painting as influences that help inform his aesthetic. Ordinarily an intrepid world traveler, due to the pandemic, Stephen has spent much of the last few years in Hong Kong, exploring the colors and light in Hong Kong’s urban environment.
Isabelle Boccon-Gibod (Paris, France, 1968)
Isabelle Boccon-Gibod was trained as Engineer in France (Ecole Centrale Paris) and the U.S. (Columbia University, NY). Her life has mixed art and industry throughout her career. Having first worked on collages and installations, she elected photography twenty years ago as her core medium. She attended the Photography School of Brussels, Belgium. Her work is project-based, photography offering the means and the pretext to explore specific territories. She likes to employ ad-hoc techniques. She lives and works in Paris, France. Her work is collected by Centre Pompidou, Paris.
Risa Tsunegi (Japan, 1982)
Risa Tsunegi studied painting at Chelsea College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London, and completed an MFA at Glasgow School of Art in 2009. She creates sculptures and installations that combine seemingly unrelated images inspired by tools and actions in specific environments, such as farming, theatre, or on trains. By using objects such as golf clubs, hanging straps, and wardrobes, which encourage specific movements depending on how they are used, she aims to work gently on the audience’s body through her works.
Stephanie Cheng (b.1995, Virginia, U.S.A.)
Stephanie Cheng is a photographer and filmmaker based in New York and Beijing. Her work examines cross-cultural dimensions within feminism and race, as she continues to explore the evolving representation of female youth, sexuality, and power across many genres. Her visual narratives not only seek to reflect the world we live in but also to imagine an entirely different one. Stephanie received her B.F.A. in Film and Television from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. She completed her Master’s in Visual, Museum, and Material Anthropology at the University of Oxford.
Boogie Woogie Photography & PhotogStory are pleased to present “Contemplations”, a solo exhibition by Takeshi Shikama at the Loft in Wong Chuk Hang from 10 December 2022 to 20 January 2023.
Born in Tokyo in 1948, Takeshi Shikama taught himself photography but never expected to be a photographer at the beginning. One day in early autumn 2001, as twilight set in, Shikama got lost in the mountain paths. Attracted by the darkness of the undergrowth, he found himself suddenly seized with a strong desire to take photographs. He set out to the same place again with a camera the following day, trying to capture the enigmatic feeling that animates him. This experience made him realize that he was not taking pictures of the woods out of his will but that the forest was inducing him to take its portraits. Since then, Shikama turned to photography after a lengthy career as a designer and never stopped photographing forests in Japan, the United States, and Europe.
Silent Respiration of Forests – Hokkaido: Komatsubara, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
Looking back, he feels that this all began with the decision to build a mountain lodge with his hands. To clear a plot of land for constructing a lodge inside a small forest, Shikama had to fell Japanese red pine trees some eighty years old. Although many years have elapsed since then, he still vividly remembers the feeling as he sat astride the felled-down trees, stripping them of their barks.
Owing to the invaluable experience of spending the next ten years building the cottage, his sensitivity towards nature came to be fully awakened. Lured by this mysterious sensation, Shikama started to travel all over Japan, visiting the depth of forests and continuing to take photographs.
Shikama always carries cameras when traveling. He is curious how the lens will capture the air in various places in different countries. Unlike the rapid snapping of pictures that most people experience, an image is photographed one at a time. The large format camera with 4×5 inches film makes him possible to record the details and gives him more time to contemplate while setting the camera. He also likes the square format. The Hasselblad camera with 6×6 cm film is more convenient and suitable for capturing fleeting moments.
Silent Respiration of Forests-Yosemite: Yosemite #23, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
The exhibition Contemplations comprises 32 of Shikama’s images captured worldwide, including the winter scenery in Japan, the magnificent Yosemite National Park in California, the Isle of Skye in Scotland, and urban forests in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and France.
Breathe in, breathe out, and listen for the silence. As the exhibition title depicts, Shikama’s images of the forest and trees guided us through a visual contemplation that unlocks a journey toward discovering the nature of silence. Shikama wrote:”the forest always stands there, motionless in total stillness. This is the image I have always had of the forest. It has dawned upon me that the forest is, in fact, the home of numerous silent and peaceful activities”.
It is not just the trees and plants matter, but also the process of making the image from start to finish that is part of the journey. Shikama attaches as much importance to the details of the image as to the photographic object. His photographs are made in Japan and are both stunning and tranquil. He uses the platinum/palladium technique on handmade Gampi paper, which is traditional Japanese paper made of Gampi tree bark, giving the prints a natural sepia tone.
Urban Forest-Paris: Parco des Ceaux #2, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
He applies the emulsion by hand to each sheet, exposes the negative by contact, then reveals the image and fixes it chemically. This painstaking process requires mastery and attention that reflects the artist’s reverence for his subjects. The Gampi paper brings a unique and precious quality to each print, and its tone gives softness to the photo and reinforces the “stillness” of the forest in the final image.
Fascinated by the forest enveloped in natural and simple air, we hope these images in this exhibition can lead the viewers into Takeshi Shikama’s photography and meditation world. May the peace be with us.
Contemplations
A Solo Exhibition by Takeshi Shikama
Date: 10th December 2022 – 20th January 2023 (Closed from 28th -31st December)
Time: 2-7pm (Wednesday – Saturday)
Address: The Loft, 8/F, E Wah Factory Building,
56-60 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Wong Chuk Hang.
The artist will be present on Saturday, 10 December, 2-7pm
Contemplation – Snow: Kitayokodake #6, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
Takeshi Shikama (Japan, 1948)
Takeshi Shikama’s life ambition is to capture the “invisible” world that lingers beyond the visible world of the trees. Each photograph is hand-printed by Takeshi Shikama, using the ancient platinum/palladium technique, considered the highest quality in black and white photographic printing. The Japanese Gampi paper on which he prints is a handmade UNESCO national treasure. It requires a great deal of time and manual labor, which reflects the intimacy Shikama has with his subject matter.
The works of Takeshi Shikama appear in numerous private and public collections, including the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Paris, France), Hermès International (Paris, France), the Museet for Fotokunst Brandts (Odense, Denmark), the Museum of Photographic Arts San Diego (California, United States), the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Texas, United States), the Santa Barbara Museum of Fine Art (California, United States), the Portland Art Museum (Oregon, USA) and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, (California, USA).
About Boogie Woogie Photography
Boogie Woogie Photography is a company founded in Hong Kong in 2016 to promote photography in Asia. The mission is to act as a platform for galleries, collectors, companies, and photographers aiming to develop photography projects in Hong Kong and Asia.
About PhotogStory
PhotogStory is an online Photography platform and Guest Curator based in Hong Kong. We focus on stories of local and international photographers and stories behind classic photos.
Boogie Woogie Photography & PhotogStory are pleased to present « My Hong Kong, 我城 (Part II) », a group exhibition at the Loft in Wong Chuk Hang from 15 October to 27 November 2022.
Every city has its own story to tell. More stories are yet to be told in a vibrant and bustling city like Hong Kong. Following the success of the exhibition « My Hong Kong, 我城 », we are thrilled to present Part II, comprising twelve Hong Kong and international photographers’ artworks about the city.
Raymond Cauchetier, Hong Kong, 1954. Photo Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
Everyone sees and feels the city from their perspective. People who have been to Hong Kong at different ages always have a reason to fall in love with the city. Raymond Cauchetier and James Chung‘s cityscapes from the 1950s and young talents’ impressions of Hong Kong are on display.
Even though Cauchetier and Chung lived in different worlds, they had similar paths. They were both self-taught photographers and recorded Hong Kong’s street scenes nearly seventy years ago. Their images reflect people’s simple life at that time. Later, in the 1960s, Cauchetier became a set photographer for the French New Wave and Chung for Hong Kong films. With the passing of Jean-Luc Godard in September of this year, Cauchetier’s photographs brought back vivid memories of the French New Wave director, which left a critical testimony of the golden era.
Hong Kong’s attraction is not only the city’s history and appearance but also the people who live here. For nearly two decades, photographer Chun Wai has photographed spectators dressed in amusing costumes during the Hong Kong Sevens. Meanwhile, Rensis Ho captured celebrities like Anita Mui and Kate Moss in Hong Kong, who are the Pop Culture Icons of our times.
The culture of Hong Kong is a mix of Chinese and Western influences. Such background inspired photographer Lean Lui’s artistic experimentations project “Disorder Sensing” (2022). She folded the light-sensitive paper into a pinhole camera, repeatedly threw it at the wall, or tossed it in a washing machine for exposure.
The process is done in complete darkness, relies on her experience and imagination, and finally obtains a series of abstract and gorgeous tints on paper. The process echoes Lui’s interests in Tao Te Ching, which says, “everything bears Yin and embraces Yang, and rushes into harmony.” After experiencing darkness and light, the photographic paper shows the beauty brought by the balance of Yin and Yang, which is reminiscent of the Taoist philosophy.
Hong Kong is a charismatic city. Whether in the movies or the reality, this place always attracted and fascinated visitors. The exhibition not only presents the city’s past and present but also embraces the city’s diversity through the photographers’ eyes. We hope the audience can recall their unique memories of the city with this exhibition.
My Hong Kong, 我城 (Part II)
Date: 15 October – 27 November 2022
Time: 2-7 pm (Friday – Sunday)
Address: The Loft, 8/F, E Wah Factory Building,
56-60 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Wong Chuk Hang.
Guided tour with Curator and Artists: Saturday 12 November, 2-7 pm
About Boogie Woogie Photography
Boogie Woogie Photography is a company founded in Hong Kong in 2016 to promote photography in Asia. The mission is to act as a platform for galleries, collectors, companies, and photographers aiming to develop photography projects in Hong Kong and Asia.
About PhotogStory
PhotogStory is an online Photography platform and Guest Curator based in Hong Kong. We focus on reports of local and international photographers and stories behind classic photos.
Artists Profile
Raymond Cauchetier (France, 1920-2021)
Raymond Cauchetier was the most famous photographer of French New Wave cinema. His first photographs were taken in his thirties while serving in the French Air Force press corps in Indochina. Cauchetier traveled through Hong Kong in 1954 and stayed for one week. He left a bouquet of memories, a little yellowed but always authentic.
James Chung (Hong Kong, 1925-2018)
James Chung embarked on his journey in photography in 1957 when he acquired his first Rolleicord. Entirely self-taught, he became a full-time movie-still photographer in 1963. James started his studio in North Point In 1968, focusing on portraits for commercials and print enlargement. His achievements in photography were further recognized by the Honorary Fellowship from the Photographic Society of Hong Kong and Fellowship from the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain later. The Hong Kong Heritage Museum collects his works.
Takeshi Shikama (Japan, 1948)
Takeshi Shikama’s life ambition is to capture the “invisible” world that lingers beyond the visible world of the trees. Each photograph is hand-printed by Takeshi Shikama, using the ancient platinum/palladium technique, considered the highest quality in black and white photographic printing. The Japanese Gampi paper on which he prints is a handmade UNESCO national treasure. It requires a great deal of time and manual labor, which reflects the intimacy Shikama has with his subject matter.
Roger Ballen (United States, 1950)
Roger Ballen’s photographs span over forty years, and he is one of the most influential and important photographic artists of the 21st century. His strange and extreme works confront the viewer and challenge them to come with him on a journey into their minds as he explores the deeper recesses of his own. Roger Ballen is one of the artists representing South Africa at the Venice Biennale 2022 in Italy.
Chun Wai (Hong Kong, 1958)
Born in Hong Kong and educated at the École supérieure des beaux-arts de Mulhouse in France, photographer Chun Wai’s perspective lies in his humanistic vision and macro-historical framework in interpreting the changing world. His project covered a vast area in the region, including Hong Kong. His work is full of a sorrowful yet romantic mood and reveals his personal landscape. The phantasmagorical image like a rhythm poem of a stray, is a unique work of art.
Thierry Cohen (France, 1963)
Thierry Cohen has been a professional photographer since 1985 and a pioneer in the use of digital techniques from the end of the 1980s. He lives and works between Paris and Monségur, close to the Atlantic Coast. Since 2006, he has devoted most of his time to personal work. Thierry is interested in the impact of human activities, particularly on nature. His works are held in private and public collections and regularly exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, and Paris.
Rensis Ho (Hong Kong, 1964)
Rensis Ho, a well-known Hong Kong photographer, studied finance in New York and then majored in photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology. After returning to Hong Kong in the 1990s, he has been engaged in photography for more than 25 years. Rensis is particularly noted for still life and portrait photography and has photographed numerous celebrities, including Kate Moss, Chloe Sevigny, Marc Jacobs, Sakamoto Ryuichi, Anita Mui, etc.
Julian Cohen (United Kingdom, 1967)
Julian came to Hong Kong in 1998 for three months, fell in love with the city, and stayed. He was called to
the Hong Kong Bar in 2010 and founded Resolution Chambers in 2021. He is today a renowned Barrister & Arbitrator. He photographs the city with his passion for the place and people.
Jocelyn Ho (Hong Kong, 1973)
Jocelyn has always been interested in photography – not to be behind or in front of a camera, but to see through a different pair of eyes. To her, everyone is a photographer. We may be looking in the same direction, the same object, but she believes we all see differently, and we choose which images to imprint on our minds.
Paul Bradshaw (United Kingdom, 1979)
Paul is a photographer, designer, and publisher based in Hong Kong since 2004. His photographs are either candid shots or spontaneous collaboration, which happens when his subject is suddenly confronted by the camera. The ambiguity of these fleeting moments, captured without exchanging words, encourages personal interpretation of the images.
Lean Lui (Hong Kong, 1999)
Lean Lui, a Hong Kong fine art and fashion photographer, graduated from Central Saint Martins (Philosophies & Photography MA). She has shot for the 2020 DIOR Global Campaign and VOGUE Magazine cover and was a guest of DIOR TALKS. Lean’s works were exhibited at the 2018 Beijing Three-shadow photography Award Exhibition, Hong Kong International Photo Festival, etc.
Dion Leung (Hong Kong, 1999)
Dion Leung is a Hong Kong-based visual artist who mainly works with photography and collage. She explores topics of rebellion and conflict with the practice of realism. As a self-taught artist, Dion is constantly looking for the expression of art amongst human interaction in other disciplines. Having an interest in history and politics, she is trying to fulfill her understanding of the sophisticated world through her art practice and reminding herself that everything true is beautiful.
致力於推廣攝影藝術的Boogie Woogie Photography與香港攝影平台「顯影 PhotogStory」在黃竹坑The Loft攜手呈獻攝影聯展《我城》(My Hong Kong, Part II)，展期由2022年10月15日至11月27日。
展覽名稱《我城》源自作家西西的同名著作，作者透過不同角色的故事及他們生活日常中的瑣碎細節，共同編織起一個關於香港城市的故事。每篇章節內容均可視為一段獨立的情節，閱讀整部小說就如一部觀看「香港版」的《清明上河圖》。《My Hong Kong》攝影聯展的理念，恰好與西西小說中多重視點的敘述手法不謀而合，展覽中的每位攝影師均有屬於自己的香港故事，他們眼中的香港也不盡相同，而這正體現這座城市的多元及迷人之處。
《我城》小說寫於1970年代，並以當時的香港為背景，作者在小說中坦言「目前的世界不好，但年輕人可以依理想來創造美麗的新世界。」這些對白放諸刻下的香港，其實也深有共鳴。《My Hong Kong》展覽以本地攝影師Jocelyn Ho一幅中環街市的一縷陽光為終結，既呼應老一輩攝影師在1950及1960年代在中環街市拍攝的照片，同時帶出對我城的一絲希望，這一縷陽光，也象徵著城市的生命力。
Raymond Cauchetier是法國新浪潮電影劇照攝影師，1951年，他隨法國空軍到胡志明市 (舊稱西貢) 服役，當時正值第一次印度支那戰爭，他拍攝空軍的行動以及戰役，為此還得到戴高樂將軍的褒獎。1954年戰爭結束後，他展開遊覽東南亞的旅程，在香港、澳門、越南、柬埔寨、老撾及日本等地拍攝當地的風土民情，在他的舊香港照片中，可見掛滿招牌的街道。
何耀燊，本地著名攝影師，在紐約攻讀金融，及後入讀Fashion Institute of Technology主修攝影，回港後從事攝影工作超過二十五年。何氏擅長靜物和人像攝影，曾拍攝無數中外時尚名人紅星，包括Kate Moss、Isabella Rossellini、Chloe Sevigny、Marc Jacobs、Nigo、坂本龍一、梅艷芳、郭富城、舒淇等。
Raymond Cauchetier, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography.
展覽《我城》展出十三位本地及外國攝影師關於香港的攝影作品，他們來自法國、美國或日本，也有多位香港本地攝影師；他們有的在1950年代已開始攝影，也有剛開始攝影生涯的年輕攝影師。每位攝影師均有屬於自己的香港故事，這也是這次展覽「My Hong Kong」的由來，他們對香港有不同看法，眼中的香港也不盡相同，而這正體現這座城市的多樣性。
Raymond Cauchetier是法國新浪潮電影劇照攝影師，1951年，他隨法國空軍到胡志明市 (舊稱西貢) 服役，當時正值第一次印度支那戰爭，他拍攝空軍的行動以及戰役，為此還得到戴高樂將軍的褒獎。1954年戰爭結束後，他展開遊覽東南亞的旅程，在香港、澳門、越南、柬埔寨、老撾及日本等地拍攝當地的風土民情，在他的舊香港照片中，可見掛滿招牌的街道。
