The Photographic Heritage Foundation Founder and Publisher, Edward Stokes, tells the extraordinary story of Hong Kong from the 1940s to 1970s, through photographs.
This exhibition’s photos, curated by Ed, show Hong Kong during consecutive periods, as it was seen around the middle of the last century. The images span some thirty years of great change: from the post-war recovery in 1946–1947, through the resilience of the 1950s, to the resurgence of the 1960s – 1970s. The photos were taken by three photographers. In the order of their Hong Kong work they were: Hedda Morrison, Lee Fook Chee and Brian Brake. Each had markedly different life backgrounds and photographic objectives.
Hedda Morrison’s Hong Kong photos, like her prior work in China and later images of Southeast Asia, reflected her high regard for ordinary people. Brian Brake held similar values. But whereas Morrison photographed mostly separate images, Brake created highly crafted, pre-envisioned photo stories. Lee Fook Chee, as a person and photographer, was far different to Morrison and Brake. Lacking their comfortable origins, and also their photographic training, he harnessed his personal resolve and the ability to take photos for selling to tourists who visited Hong Kong.
Yet all three, in their own way, recorded Hong Kong during its modern, crucible decades – thus passing on to our present times the photographic heritage seen in this Asia Society Hong Kong Center exhibition, which closes on 6 June 2022.
The photos form the exhibition Recovery, Resilience, Resurgence – now showing at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center https://asiasociety.org/hong-kong/exhibitions/current
RTHK Hong Kong Heritage Podcast:
https://www.rthk.hk/radio/radio3/programme/hongkongheritage/episode/813149
https://www.rthk.hk/radio/radio3/programme/hongkongheritage/episode/813280
The Speaker
Edward Stokes hails from Australia and was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford. Ed grew up in Hong Kong and returned here in 1993 to work on projects on the natural landscape. He is now a well-known photographer and writer. He established the Hong Kong Conservation Photography Foundation in 1997 to raise environmental and conservation awareness in Hong Kong. His first book was Hong Kong's Wild Places, a highly regarded, evocative portrayal of the evolution of the natural landscape, describing the interplay between 'man and land'. His other books each explored a different part of the territory.
Edward is the Founder and Publisher of The Photographic Heritage Foundation, a not-for-profit publisher that focuses on heritage and nature publications. He is the author of Hong Kong As It Was, several books of historic photographs, and also the photographer/author of books on the natural landscape and the history of Australia.
Programme
Venue: Online on Zoom, please sign up to receive the link
Admission: No charge, please register your attendance in advance
Booking: Please email membership@royalasiaticsociety.org.hk in advance to register your attendance