Hong Kong artist holds charity show to thank Blue House community for support
When Ernest Chang left the US, and drug rehab, he found sanctuary in a historic Wan Chai neighbourhood. On Saturday he’s exhibiting his work to give something back to its people
Ernest Chang is at ease walking around the Wan Chai neighbourhood where the Blue House heritage building stands. “I love this area,” says the Hong Kong-born artist as he passes the area’s eclectic mix of car-repair shops, bars, restaurants, and gallery spaces.
“When I was young I would help out over there,” he says, pointing to the St James’ Settlement building across the road from his gallery, The Stallery, on Stone Nullah Lane. “When I returned from the US, and after some time in rehab, this community was a good sanctuary for me. People here helped me – a recovering drug addict – and I want to give back to this community, to say thanks for the support,” Chang says.
He’s giving back by hosting a one-day photography show on Saturday at his gallery and at the Tai Lung Fung bar nearby.
The show’s focus is the 100-year-old Blue House, a grade-one historic building and the city’s oldest example of a tong lau – the commercial and residential buildings, typically no more than four storeys high, that were common in Hong Kong until the 1960s. Chang’s works zoom in on small details, such as tiles and textures, providing a new way to look at the old.
The works, in saturated colours and high contrast, also say something more personal about the artist.
