身份認同是當代社會的熱門話題,但當我們將身份認同訴諸法律文件、種族、
價值、地域或純粹的個人認同,都會有不同程度的限制。而其中決定我們身份認
同的條件,是我們面對著共同的歷史、共同的命運、共同的未來。

Identity is a hot topic in contemporary society, but when we resort to legal documents, race, value, region or purely personal identity, there will be varying degrees of restriction. The condition that determines our identity is that we face a common history, destiny, and future.

灣仔集成中心 Our Gallery 由即日至 8 月 31 日舉辦《身份的思辨》水墨畫展,邀請藝術家以水墨藝術去探討「身份」的議題,展覽免費入場。借水墨畫去表達身份認同或許是新的嘗試: 在不失水墨藝術傳統精神的同時,試圖詮釋這個複雜的概念。

Our Gallery at C C WU Building, Wan Chai is staging an exhibition called “Sense of Identity” from now to 31 August, inviting two artists to explore the topic of “identity” through ink art.  It may be a new attempt to express identity through ink art: it tries to interpret this complex concept while not losing the traditional spirit of ink art. 

夾縫下的身份認同
是次展覽的參展藝術家之一容子敏,以山水為切入點,創作了八幅穿越過去
現在的作品,其中〈明月〉、〈尋根〉、〈寄情〉、〈審美〉代表已存在的一些構成身份認同的因素,如血緣、族群、故土等;而〈思源〉、〈異色〉、〈精神〉、〈身份〉則代表後天影響身份認同的因素,如教化、中外視野、社會環境等影響。對藝術
家來說,水墨畫既是中華文化的載體,也可結合西方藝術元素(如透視、色彩、
光影等)創作。形成了這組中外文化交融的創作,而這組作品展示的兩張書法〈明
月〉和〈身份〉為系列作的開首與結尾,互相呼應。前者以正規書寫蘇東坡詞《水
調歌頭》,後者以狂亂筆鋒寫英文大字,反映了香港人從回歸前後的身份轉變,
體會到香港人在中外文化衝突之下對身份認同的意識。

Shaping identity
One of the participating artists in this exhibition, Simon Yung, took landscape as the starting point and created eight works that traverse the past and the present. Among them, “Moon”, “Roots”, “Sentiment”, and “Aesthetic” represent some of the intrinsic factors, such as bloodline, ethnic group etc. In contrast “Source”, “Glamour”, “Spirit”, and “Identity” represent
acquired factors that affect identities, such as enlightenment, perspectives, and social environment. For artists, ink art is not only the carrier of traditional Chinese culture but also a combination of Western artistic elements (such as perspective, colour, light and shadow, etc.). This group of artworks is trying to reflect the change of Hong Kong people’s identity from the past to the present, under the conflict between Eastern and Western cultures.

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青山依舊在,幾度夕陽紅
第二組作品〈渲染〉,描繪的是一幅古今連接的香港景色。作品借景抒發江
山永恆,人生變化無常之嘆,就如明代詩人楊慎云:「青山依舊在,幾度夕陽紅」。
我們生活在發達的城市,在憧憬美好將來的同時,也眷戀昔日的美景;而畫面左
上的大片紅霞從左向右襲來,逐漸覆蓋整片維港景,暗示了現實社會的轉變,將
影響著個人對身份的選擇。

“Yet mountains are still green, the sun goes up and down”
The second group of artwork “Dyeing” inspired by a poem of Yang Zhen (1488 – 1559), it depicts a scene of Hong Kong from the past to the present during a sunset. It reflects the poem of Yang Zhen that although the world has been changing, and people seem to be locked into a certain sense of shackles, the nature of the landscape has not changed. The identity is
shaping from time to time, but some values in our hearts will remain unchanged.

何不活在當下
另一位參展藝術家麥錫恩以病毒的形象去借喻人們或許應該放下對身份的
執著。藝術家創作了一組名為《源》的作品,由〈東〉、〈不詳〉、〈西〉三
幅畫作組成,分別以不同的技法畫成三種不同的病毒形象:〈東〉是以水墨描
繪的病毒;〈不詳〉是以中西畫顏料及技法描繪的病毒;而〈西〉則是用西洋
技法描畫的病毒。

藝術家認為比起宇宙萬物,人類根本就是微不足道,很多事情也許是我們
共同造成的結果。正如《源》這組畫作,是合併中西技法下而成的。既然疫症
可能是我們人類共業的結果,那麼我們又何需(除科學原因外)執著去尋找源
頭?就如身份認同一樣,身份認同或許並不重要,不必庸人自擾。

另一組作品「隔。離」,借螞蟻擬人,螞蟻和人類一樣是群居動物,但在
某種情況下,螞蟻也會被群體隔離,如在疫症下人們在各種不同的情況下被分
隔開。藝術家想表達的是,身份也許會在不同的情境下重新塑造。如是者,我
們更不須執著於身份認同,反而在夾縫裡活在當下更為實際。

Why not live in the moment
Another participating artist, Kenny Mak, used the image of a virus as a metaphor to suggest that people should perhaps let go of their attachment to identity. The artist created a group of works called “Origination”, composed of three paintings “East”, “Unknown”, and “West”. They were painted into three different techniques: “East” is painted in traditional Chinese ink painting techniques; “Unknown” is created with a combination of Chinese and Western art techniques, and “West” is only painted in Western techniques.

The artist believes that compared to everything in the universe, human beings are fundamentally insignificant, and many things may come from a result of “karmic force”. This belief reflects on the artwork of “Origination”, it is a result of different art techniques. Since the epidemic may be the result of karmic force, why do we need (except for scientific reasons)
to persistently search for the cause? Just like identity, it may not be that important to understand who you are.

Another group of works “Segregation”, anthropomorphises ants to humans. Ants are social animals like humans. However, under certain circumstances, ants will also be excluded by their groups. It is similar to the people who are divided/isolated in different groups/conditions under the world epidemic. The artist wants to express that identity may be reshaped in different situations, and therefore, we don’t have to be obsessed with self-identity. On the contrary, it is more practical to live in the present.

對於「身份認同」這議題,兩位藝術家各自表述,未來我們以甚麼身份來
生活是不確定的,只能依靠想像,重要的是,即使每個人對將來的身份有不同
的期盼,但我們不應忘記身為「人」的存在。

Two artists made two different interpretations of identity. The sense of identity in the coming future may begin with sociotropic threat. In the post-pandemic period, the world might appear growing distrustful of cultural outsiders and more polarised by ethnicity, age and class. A feeling of besiegement may put traditional identity under tremendous pressure, and a new kind of identity may be developed – one that is more strongly felt as well as narrower and more combative.

《身份的思辨》”Sense of Identity”

Date:

2020.6.8- 8.31

Time:

Monday to Friday, 11:00 – 18:00, Saturday 13:00 – 17:00

Venue:

UG 10 Our Gallery, 灣仔軒尼詩道 302-8 號集成中心

Source: Our Gallery