The sound of _ _ _

© Hoi Kin Fung - Image from the The sound of _ _ _ photography project © Hoi Kin Fung - Image from the The sound of _ _ _ photography project © Hoi Kin Fung - Image from the The sound of _ _ _ photography project View all images ↓
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In 2022, nothing seems to have happened in Hong Kong, but our times have been aphasia. When this becomes fact, what’s left to the voice of the times?

Synopsis:

In 2022, nothing seems to have happened in Hong Kong, but our times have been aphasia. When this becomes fact, what’s left to the voice of the times?

Background for the project:

Since the enactment of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, as of June 30, 2022, 201 people have been arrested for violating the law, most of them are convicted of some kind of “speech crimes”. There were political party members, non-governmental organization and trade union members, journalists, teachers, students, lawyers, healthcare workers and so on who have been arrested, mostly with denial of bail. More than 1,000 people in political-related cases have been convicted, with a total sentence of 772 years in prison. More than 10,000 people were arrested for the “2019 social movement”, and 2,974 people were prosecuted.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong has seen a mass exodus.The migration is accelerating from 2019 to 2021 in three-years time, which involved more than 130,000 population. And in the first quarter of 2022 alone, the net outflow of Hong Kong's population has reached 140,000. According to the UK Home Office report, since the launch of the Hong Kong British Nationals (Overseas) welcome programme, as of March 31, 2022, UK Immigration has received 123,400 applications.

Relevance to the Title:

The Sound of _ _ _ attempts to break and extend the boundaries of photographic forms. In this digital era, all materials from different mediums can be traced back to binary code, 0 and 1, so materials between different media (Visual images and Sound) can actually be interflowed.

Inspired by “The Sound of Silence”, a popular song released in 1964 by Simon & Garfunkel, perhaps silence could be a kind of sound. The images of The Sound of _ _ _ are retouched with a sound effect software. Photos are converted into sound waves, tampered with different sound effects such as Invert, Reverb, Reverse, Wahwah, Compressor, Normalize, Echo, Denoise and Vocal Remover, etc to be destroyed and distorted. Each portrait contains a unique "noise" visually. This just echoes the story narrated by The Sound of _ _ _, "silencing" each portrait, reflecting the status of the society after the 2019 Hong Kong social movement and the legislation of the National Security Law in Hong Kong. Please scan the QR code on each picture or visit the below url to listen the sound of each portrait:

https://on.soundcloud.com/Tp9YW

© Hoi Kin Fung - Image from the The sound of _ _ _ photography project
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1.The Sound of Chung Hon-lam, Tony Chung Hon-lam, Tony, 21 years-old, activist, convenor of “Studentlocalism”. He failed in seeking asylum at the US consulate in Hong Kong in October 2021 and was arrested. He was sentenced to 3 years and 7 months in prison for two crimes of secession and money laundering.

© Hoi Kin Fung - Image from the The sound of _ _ _ photography project
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2. The Sound of Tsang Long-hin, Carson Tsang Long-hin, Carson, 18 years-old, student, served as a voluntary first-aider between social movements in 2019. On 8 November 2019, a protester Chow Tsz Lok fell to death in Sheung Tak Estate, Tseung Kwan O, the demonstration site. Tsang has given first aid to him. The coroner conducted the investigation of the cause of death in the court, Tsang acted as witness, helped seek for the truth, now studying at school in Hong Kong.

© Hoi Kin Fung - Image from the The sound of _ _ _ photography project
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3. The Sound of Tam Man-ho, Jeremy Tam Man-ho, Jeremy, 47 years-old, politician, former legislator, former Civic Party member, former Cathay Pacific pilot. Constantly carried professional opinions on aviation and other issues during his term in the Legislative Council, actively participated in the social movement in 2019. He was arrested for participating in the pro-democracy primary election of the Legislative Council and convicted of violating the National Security Law in Hong Kong. He was charged with "conspiracy to commit subversion” and has been remanded to date.

© Hoi Kin Fung - Image from the The sound of _ _ _ photography project
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4. The Sound of Lee Cheuk-yan Lee Cheuk-yan, 65 years-old, politician, activist, former secretary-general of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, former president of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, visited Tiananmen in Beijing in 1989 supporting the students in China. Lee was convicted of different crimes including the National Security Law in participating in the social movement in 2019. He has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for the crime of unauthorized assembly. The Trade Union where he served has also announced its disbandment.

© Hoi Kin Fung - Image from the The sound of _ _ _ photography project
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5. The Sound of Wong Yue-kiu, Emilia Wong Yue-kiu, Emilia, 27 years-old, graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, she served as the executive officer of the Chinese University Student Union. She was responsible for her boyfriend, Lau Wing-hong,Ventus in court as a paralegal in the Hong Kong 47 case, in which Lau was convicted of "conspiracy to commit subversion” participating in the pro-democracy primary election of the Legislative Council. Lau was also an organizer arranging marches and rallies in various districts during 2019. Emilia and Lau wrote to each other every day and she visited him in prison from time to time.

© Hoi Kin Fung - Image from the The sound of _ _ _ photography project
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6. The Sound of “No name” No name, participated in the social movement in 2019. He was hit by tear gas bomb in his right eye, with only 10% sight of his right eye after treatment. He considers Hong Kong is now back to the primitive society, no room for logic and truth, either you or me will die. Whereabouts unknown.

© Hoi Kin Fung - Image from the The sound of _ _ _ photography project
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7. The Sound of Lam Long-yin, Ivan Lam Long-yin, Ivan, former convenor of “Scholarism”, initiated the ”against Implementation of National Education movement” in 2012 with Wong Chi-fung, Joshua and Chow Ting, Agnes. “Scholarism” transformed into Demosisto later and Lam served as the president. He actively participated in the social movement in 2019, and was imprisoned for 7 months for surrounding the police headquarters on June 21 and charged with "Incitement to knowingly take part in an unauthorized assembly". He remained in Hong Kong after being released from prison.

© Hoi Kin Fung - Image from the The sound of _ _ _ photography project
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8. The Sound of Chan Kin-man Chan Kin-man, 63 years-old, scholar, activist, former Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Initiated “Occupy Central with Love and Peace Movement “ in 2014 striving for universal suffrage for the Chief Executive in Hong Hong, it became the “Umbrella Movement” for 79 days. Chan was convicted of the crimes of “incitement to public nuisance” and “conspiracy to commit public nuisance”, and was imprisoned for 16 months. He has moved to Taiwan after being released from prison in 2020.

© Hoi Kin Fung - Image from the The sound of _ _ _ photography project
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9. The Sound of Chen Hung-sau, Jackie Chen Hung-sau, Jackie, 44 years-old, social worker, director of the Hong Kong Social Workers' General Union, member of Battlefield Social Worker. During the social movement in 2019, Chen constantly stood between the police and protestors with small megaphones, appealing for restraint and calm of the police. Later, she was accused of participating in a riot with others, and was found innocent after trial, but the Department of Justice immediately lodged an appeal. Chan remains in Hong Kong for community service.

© Hoi Kin Fung - Image from the The sound of _ _ _ photography project
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10. The Sound of Yeung Wing-yu, Hans Yeung Wing-yu, Hans, 52 years-old, Hong Kong historian, secondary school teacher, former Senior Manager - Assessment Developmentof the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA). An History examination question : “Do you agree that Japan brought more advantages than disadvantages to China from 1900 to 1945?” has aroused disputes in 2020, the HKEAA finally announced the cancellation of this test question upon the Education Bureau’s request. Yeng needed to whitewash the answers of the students one by one. He felt distressed, and later resigned from the HKEAA. He has immigrated to the UK, said that the only way to study history in Hong Kong may be studying Marxism-Leninism at Peking University.

© Hoi Kin Fung - Image from the The sound of _ _ _ photography project
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11. The Sound of Tsoi Yuk-ling, Bao Tsoi Yuk-ling, Bao, 38 years-old, journalist of Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) , she directed the investigative report on the "721 Incident" during the Hong Kong social movement. Later, she was charged with false statement for the use of license plate search in the investigative report (license plate search has been widely used in Hong Kong media's investigative reports for many years) and was fined HKD 6,000. The Hong Kong government has tightened the real-name system for search records since then, and has ruled out the possibility that journalists can use search records to investigate matters of public interests.

© Hoi Kin Fung - Image from the The sound of _ _ _ photography project
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12. The Sound of Ren Xia, Lam Sam Ren Xia, 40 years-old, Lam Sam, 37 years-old, Hong Kong directors, co-directed a 2019 social movement related feature film “May You Stay Forever Young” with only HKD$600,000 budget, it narrates the story of a group of unknown people who rescue the ones who attempted suicide during the movement. “May You Stay Forever Young” was shortlisted for Best New Director and Best Editing at the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan, and won numerous awards abroad, but “May You Stay Forever Young” could not be screened in Hong Kong because it failed the censorship of Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration. Ren Xia and Lam Sum stays in Hong Kong to continue their filmmaking.