Artist creates poetry from HK’s old signs
A French photographer has created a body of work celebrating his connection with Hong Kong and Cantonese culture by reimagining old signs in poetry.
Wednesday, 26 Jun 2019 14:35 GMT
The photography series explores the artist’s relationship with Hong Kong through syntax and signage. Photos: Blue Lotus Gallery
Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze decided to document many of the region’s striking street signs and brought them home where his wife, born in Hong Kong, would help him to translate. From there, he could create sentences from the individual characters, creating visual poems with the signs.
"What makes particular signs truly unique are the markings they bare being witness to the passing time: the peeling paint, the rusted metal, lost tiles or broken neons,” Jacquet-Lagrèze says. “Men designed them to be informative and attractive, I think the erosion transforms them into something more, something deeper.
He continues: “The marks of decay add another layer of meaning to the characters; no longer just names on wall, they become poetry of time. It helps us to dwell poetically in the urban landscape where we live and to have a daily touch with the spiritual.”
Jacquet-Lagrèze’s work arranges old signs into forms of poetry
A particularly personal project for Jacquet-Lagrèze, City Poetry mirrors his steps in welcoming a new culture into his life both through learning the language, and in his personal life as he and his wife welcome their first baby.
"Traditional Chinese characters is one of man's historical languages still in use, we are so lucky to be surrounded visually by this ancient text in such a hyper-modern city,” he adds. “The signs are genuine works of art, combining the techniques by man, time and the elements. I decided to capture this with my camera.”
Each form of sign-making has its Masters who have become local heroes in Hong Kong, but few young people are taking up the trade. Whilst the exhibition cannot keep them alive, it helps the public admire their work while it lasts.
“As I am fascinated with the artform of Chinese calligraphy, I had the idea of combining different characters together in order to create poems, to build meaning by collaging characters photographed in different places and made using various materials.”
The signs are genuine works of art, combining the techniques by man, time and the elements”
Neon signs were a prominent fixture in Hong Kong for many years, but recently more have been disappearing from view, replaced by digitally printed or LED alternatives.
"When I walk the streets of Hong Kong, I love to admire the traditional Chinese characters created for shop signs and building names," Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze adds. "They each have their own specific features and qualities, especially in the older districts where they were designed using various methods, each are a highly trained skill: carved into wood or stone, hand-blown neons, glued tiles or hand-painted characters.”
City Poetry is on show at the Blue Lotus Gallery in Hong Kong until July 7th, 2019.
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