H O M E T O W N H O N G
K O N G
D R E A M
the story behind this story I was brought up in Hong Kong, but grew up in an international environment. Because Cantonese was no longer a fluent language, I often felt detatched from my hometown, like I was stuck in a place where I didn’t belong. Hong Kong is and isn’t my home. I knew the streets like I had a map in my head, I knew how to recite my favourite meals in Chinese, I knew my favourite camera shopkeepers, the best view at 3am, and everywhere I would pass, I would be reminded of a memory. And yet, I knew so little about society. I felt like a stranger, so ridiculously disconnected, and at the same time, so drawn towards my beautiful city. There is a comfortable sense of home, but also a sense of foreign and unfamiliar restlessness. Because of this, it allowed me to see the city with wonder, and through these photos, I attempted to capture the familiar, almost “dull” Hong Kong spaces, highlighting its nostalgic, dreamy spirit and using city lights to embellish and enhance its magnificence. This is why I’m naming this, “Hometown Dream.” Hong Kong is like home, but at the same time, a distant memory that I can never fully grasp. Perhaps this is just a collection of romanticised memories. I think we all pick out beautiful things from nostalgic places.
“It’s funny. When you leave your home and wander really far, you always think, ‘I want to go home.’ But then you come home, and of course it’s not the same. You can’t live with it, you can’t live away from it. And it seems like from then on there’s always this yearning for some place that doesn’t exist. I felt that. Still do. I’m never completely at home anywhere.” - DANZY SENNA