Future of political art in Hong Kong uncertain as Beijing tightens grip

Hong Kong CNN — Few in Hong Kong will forget the iconic “Lady Liberty” – a towering white statue depicting a protester in goggles and a gas mask striding through a plume of sculpted tear gas. The remnants of the original “Lady Liberty Hong Kong” are currently displayed on the second floor of a small cafe and exhibition space in the city’s Sham Shui Po district – hidden from street view to avoid attracting unwanted attention. Lady Liberty Hong Kong spokesperson Along with these “relics” – as the show’s curators describe them – a new, slightly altered version of the statue has been unveiled, an imposing floor-to-ceiling sculpture of “Lady Liberty” in typical protester attire. “Local artists have the awareness that if you work with the Hong Kong government, you can already assume politics is not allowed,” said Sampson Wong, co-creator of the “Countdown Machine.” “You have to talk about politics in an indirect way, or you have to talk about something else.” Significant events in Hong Kong’s recent past, such as last year’s protests and the 2014 Umbrella Revolution, are eerily absent in public spaces like the recently reopened Hong Kong Museum of Art, which positions itself as representing the city’s “unique cultural legacy” – despite the proliferation of artworks created in both movements. The formal art world is trying to figure out how to respond to the political climate of Hong Kong because if they don’t respond, they will lose the public.” While HKMoA did not respond to CNN’s specific questions around self-censorship pressures and the absence of political art, the museum said in a statement that its exhibitions feature a selection of “suitable art works” that are “based on criteria such as the themes of individual projects, artistic achievement of the artist as well as artistic merit of an artwork.” Visitors viewing artwork at Art Basel Hong Kong in March 2019.