A.D.D. & H.

Recognize this material?

These are photographs taken from 1993- by the artist Stanley Wong of redwhiteblue, the “durable, all-purpose, made-in-Hong Kong,’ red-white-blue polyethylene material” seen so commonly in Hong Kong it has become iconic in the city.

“Almost everyone who has lived in the city in the 1970s and 1980s, even to the 1990s, will remember the huge bags of provisions and appliances Hong kong people hauled on the KCR (Kowloon-Canton Railway) to bring to their relatives in China. It has an inerasable assocation for most Hong Kong people of “hometown” in China and of the hardscrabble at the time. However, because of the durability and the strength of the material, it is also a metaphor for endurance and triumph over hardship. This, according to Stanley Wong, is the “signature material” of Hong Kong […]
In Wong’s gaze, a local object of everyday functionality transcends its banality and lowly status to become an icon. The commonnes and availability of this icon to everyone in the city, in their homes and in their daily pursuits and activities is significant. The use of the material in Wong’s work turns masses of strangers into a community through their recognition of a singular emblem. Through recognition, identification, and the feelings of affilation evoked by the “redwhitblue,” stories of collective past are recalled.

“redwhiteblue” […] not only results in a heightened sensitivity among the citizens of the signs in their environment, but also makes them interpreters of their environment and not just passive spectators. This process of seeing, recognition, and interpretation turns the spectacles of the city into a meaningful discourse of collective experience and history. This recognition of spatial meaning transforms an otherwise impersonal cityscape into a public sphere of collective identification and mutual understanding. These “redwhiteblue” paraphernalia in the city therefore insert the mark of community in the seeming relentless capitalist development and commercialism.”

- Janet Ng, from her book Paradigm City: space, culture, and capitalism in Hong Kong (highly recommended for anyone interested in Hong Kong, sociopolitical identity, and Lefebvrian urbanism)

This project has taken on its own life, with the help of many collaborators participants, which you can read more about at Stanley Wong’s website.

I would even extend the narrative to my own life. In cities like Toronto which have experienced a high influx of Hong Kong emigrants you can see this fabric everywhere. I grew up with it, identifying it with a second generation of symbolism - lining grocery carts, bags sitting dirty on streets - always associating it with old-chinese-bag-lady-kitsch.