Exhibitor’s Stories

TRACES OF TIME
In 2020, local history enthusiast Hiuman Lam set up the Hong Kong Reminiscence social media pages to explore the disappearing cityscapes through still images.

Between 2020-21, she visited 25 old shops in Hong Kong to understand and document the lives of older craftsmen, collting all the interviews in her book, and dividing them into four chapters on clothing, food, housing and transportation. These are the intangible cultural heritage of Hong Kong, and the book also captures the old traditions – shops like Uncle Cai Birdcages, Ho Chung Kee White Iron, Sun Ngai Sing Umbrella Emperor, and Dongguan Lao Herbal Tea – redolent of Hong Kong’s ancient handicrafts and food.

Hong Kong Reminiscence is published by FeiFan Publication, and focuses on collective memory, and the beauty of legacy, which is not nostalgia, but the need to cherish the present moment, and not allow the traditional aesthetics of the city to disappear. There is a special map guiding readers to old Hong Kong shops as well as the shops’ histories, and the research in each article enriches the story.

Chan Hei Sing has designed the book cover with a vintage patterned iron gate and floor bricks in three layers and a typeface that all develop the theme.