The Last Emperor of Kowloon

^ Graffiti mimicking the Emperor's calligraphic style with posters of his mugshot, which makes me think of Obama's campaign posters.

The local artist community is brewing a street activity titled "Piss Me Off" to mark the second anniversary of a famed local character's death and, most importantly, remonstrate with the government for its red-tape complacency in conserving folk arts. The character in the spotlight is the deceased Mr Tsing Jo Choi, popularly known as the Emperor of Kowloon due to the reoccurring Chinese characters "Emperor Tsang" and "Emperor of Kowloon" in his graffiti.

If you haven't heard about the Emperor of Kowloon, you haven't quite known Hong Kong. If you've been to Hong Kong but not seen the Emperor's calligraphy, you missed the best part of it.

So, what is so special about this self-styled Emperor? Born in a Guangdong country in 1927, the Emperor moved to Hong Kong in 1937 when he was 16 years old. He married his wife in 1956 and started the life-long passion of doing graffiti in those special black-inked Chinese calligraphy of his. His works began to bloom in the street, appearing on electricity boxes, lamp posts, walls and whatnots. In the 1970s, for reason of the same passion, his family left him after he kept doing calligraphy in ink around the apartment. His black-inked graffiti are considered unique in style because of the filthily drippy, untidy yet fittingly balanced calligraphy, but they are interesting also for the royal title he styled himself with (the biggest characters say, "Emperor of Kowloon") and the state-secret like contents. For that matter, he was taken to be

somewhat mentally unsound.

^What being enclosed inside are the Emperor's calligraphy under conservation works after, well, the lack of it for too long a period.

That said, his works are much loved for the intriguing calligraphy and the essential part he played in the collective memory of Hong Kong people. Before the colonial British's intervention with bureaucratic stupidity to rub them away, his works were almost ubiquitous throughout Hong Kong (or more aptly, the Kowloon Peninsular). In the old days, the Emperor was often seen working on his graffiti on walls in Kowloon City. During his last few years, he become highly regarded for his calligraphic works which had been used in TV commercials, magazine covers, fashion and even auctioned by Sotheby's.

Sadly, after the death of the Emperor, his outdoor calligraphic works are fading due to weathering and the lack of proper conservation, kudos to the bureaucratic complacency. The most accessible works can be seen on one of the pillars near the entrance of the Star Ferry Pier in Tsim Sha Tsui, which is being boarded for conservation works.

Piss Me Off will take place in the Mongkok pedestrian precinct (the long strip of street with many Fortress and Broadways outlets along and close to the Ladies'Market) on 15 July from 9:00 to 21:00. The activity is mainly about doing graffiti in different artistic formats (probably doing something on the street furniture like this http). Be there with your camera!

A Real Hero

(Grip On Reality: This photo was taken on my way to work. I was walking past trucks parking on a cul-de-sac when the ropes caught my attention. The light was right, the colour was right and the criss-crossing pattern was perfect and I held up my GX200. People passing by checked me out and wondered what could be made out of such a boring scene. To me, the fun in photography is that the photographer makes something interesting out of what is not obvious to most at the scene. The ropes tied in knots somehow reminded people I know who are in the grip of the recession) You must have also known a friend or two, or even yourself, being baffled by the spiral downturn of the economy. Bank went bankrupt and the rich was faced with a shrinking wealth. A friend of mine has just had his salary cut by over 10% and some of his colleagues started to be shed. But, wait. Was this done really for the sake of continuing the business? Or is there a factor or greed in it? I wonder whether the

New Low Prices

The window shopping some hours ago has almost provoked my AgIDS illness. Just in case you’re in Hong Kong or are coming here, and have the money to burn (All in HK$/ body only): GX200 = $3,280 GRD2 = $3,380 LX3 = $3,180 G10 = $3,280 Prices are available form a gear shop on the 1st floor of the Mongkok Computer Centre. Besides these new low prices, I found that Wing Shing Photo (55-57Sai Yeung Choi St., MK Tel: 2396 6886/ 91-95 Fa Yuen St., MK Tel: 2396 6885) is offering a Sony A700 + Carl Zeiss Lens package for HK$9,980 (hopefully, a bargain will make it some hundreds cheaper).

Eye Contact

(Leica D-lux 5) The digital era may make it easier to end up with fave shots. Even lousy photos may be turned likable after a few clicks in the post-processing workflow. But if digital advancement or amendments have any bearing on the cultivation of personal style, no photographers will need to discover his or her own photographer’s eye. Undoutedly, this is out of the question. Only with a trained photographer’s eye can we give a thinking gaze and capture an eternal moment, in our unique style. Style is the soul of a great photo. A few posts have been written in GXG to touch on the topic of photographer’s eye. Instead of finding an answer, which would require academic discussions, the posts are intended to give my general reflections and spark interests in moving towards further exploration of the topic. The posts can be viewed after the links: 1) Photographer's Eye: Storytelling 2) Photographer's Eye: Little Show of Observing 3) Photographer's Eye: Sight-Worthy 4

GX GARNERINGS

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