Returning to Hong Kong in 2007, I encountered a city that had undergone yet another profound transformation. The sweeping, distanced gaze of my preceding project (1994–2000), which documented territorial fragmentation, and a city caught between two eras, gave way to a more intimate engagement with the human fabric of urban life. This chapter shifts focus from the city as an evolving structure to the rhythms of its people, who both shape and are shaped by its pulse.

Where my previous work traced the dissonance of the 1997 handover, this portfolio reveals the everyday negotiations of identity under “One Country, Two Systems” and reflects a decade of accelerated urban reinvention. The compositions lean into proximity—capturing faces, gestures, and fleeting exchanges that distill Hong Kong’s distinct spirit. Verticality defines the city: apartments tower above vanishing tenements, footbridges stitch together districts, and skyscrapers reflect fragmented histories. Yet, even as modernity towers above, pockets of collective memory endure in family-run businesses, worn facades resisting redevelopment, and communities that cling to history while adapting to change.

In this reimagined city, Hong Kong transcends mere rupture or reinvention; it is a living entity, where dense neighborhoods and bustling streets pulse with the energy of its inhabitants. Street vendors navigate labyrinthine alleyways, market stalls glow under flickering fluorescent lights, and residents carve out moments of solitude amid the perpetual motion of the metropolis. The cityscape, once emblematic of transition, now serves as both an arena and archive of resilience.

Though the countryside recedes, a different landscape emerges—one sculpted by human tenacity and the intricate choreography of urban survival. Evolving Territories: Hong Kong Rediscovered is an artefact of my immersion in its contradictions, capturing a community that thrives not despite its tensions, but because of them. It is a visual testament to the endurance of identity in a place where adaptation is not just necessary but second nature.

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