Victoria Harbour undoubtedly changed the fate of the small island that is Hong Kong. 

European powers began their overseas explorations during the Age of Exploration in the 15th to 17th centuries, and, as part of their efforts to discover new trading partners and routes. However, it was not until the 18th and 19th centuries that Hong Kong appeared on Western maps and written records. These materials charted the waters near Hong Kong Island for commercial purposes and demonstrate that Hong Kong’s prime geographical location as well as its deep waters had attracted Chinese and foreign trading activities long before the city’s opening as a port. Hong Kong—once jokingly described as a barren rock due to its barren and mountainous landscape, and limited access to water––was ultimately selected by Britain to be a colony. 

Victoria Harbour has since witnessed Hong Kong’s trajectory from being a peripheral island to a central shipping node en route to the world. As the final chapter of the island series, Hitch a Ride on Water showcases 48 photographs related to the Victoria Harbour from the Frank Fischbeck Collection, which encompasses photography that cover Hong Kong’s history and cultural heritage of the past century. The selected photographs, and the two commissioned videos, explore the urban landscape and everyday life of Hong Kong as a city born out of its intimate relations with the waters, and to reexamine Victoria Harbour’s significance to Hong Kong almost two centuries after the city’s opening as a port city. This exhibition aims to reanimate these old photographs through their renewed display, processing, distribution, circulation, and to inspire conversations on contemporary issues. An example of this is the Blue Marble––the first image of the full Earth taken from space by astronaut Jack Schmitt in 1972––which stimulated people’s discussions and imaginations of the universe, utopia, and the future since its publication in newspapers.

Venue address: 8/F, Chun Wo Commercial Centre, Central