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2022 October
Shopfront Shutters – Canvas for the City

Although lending out shopfront shutters for painting stories of our city may not be lucrative, colorful artworks can be spotted here and there along the very money-oriented streets of Hong Kong.

 

Colorful murals or graffiti are not something new. Ihwa-dong in Seoul, Huangpingjue in Chongqing, and the Rainbow Village in Taichung, for example, have all been graced with vibrant art, showing how ordinary locations could be transformed into camera-ready attractions.

 

Wendy Tsang, Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation (HKYAF) Director, knew very well that colorful street-side paintings in concrete jungles can often provide a reason to pause our hectic urban life. This was why she started the “HK Urban Canvas” at HKYAF. Under this community art project, shopfront shutters are used as urban canvas to record the stories of Hong Kong.

 

Shopfront shutters as canvas

Tsang shared how the HKYAF project began in 2016, when a few artists were invited to paint on the shopfront shutters of a few stores in To Kwa Wan to tell the stories of that community. The good reception of the project prompted Tsang and the HKYAF team to try to bring similar activities to different parts of Hong Kong. One year later in 2017, the community art project “HK Urban Canvas” began to take shape and has since been extended to all corners of the city. The art team has now created 83 shopfront shutter paintings in nine districts in Hong Kong.

 

Tsang explained that an “HK Urban Canvas” project begins with district selection. The team next works with professionals and defines a theme. “Let’s take Sham Shui Po as an example. While it is often associated with food, our research revealed it used to be a place for garment factories. We therefore selected so as the theme of the district.” With a finalized theme, Tsang and the team would then visit the district to liaise with shops that are interested in joining the project.

 

Painting with ideas, working with experiences

Tsang was glad about the team’s experience gained over the years. They have learned that in an old district, a female team member is more likely to get the green light from a street-level store owner for painting on the shopfront shutters. Certainly, instant declines have also been common as some owners are not at all interested in the project. As such, the team has also learnt to rely on the help of local organizations to convince owners.

 

After everything is set, they would engage a suitable artist to paint on the shutters, with an objective to bring out the unique character of a local store. “The shops are open for business during daytime, meaning artists usually work late at night after close of business.”

 

As the “HK Urban Canvas” team paint stories on shopfront shutters and decorate the streets of Hong Kong, it too has its own stories to tell. In one of these stories, a store that had initially agreed to take part withdrew at the last minute because of fengshui concerns. In another unexpected yet heart-warming and memorable story, as Tsang recalled, a shop owner brought artists home-made desserts to thank them for working so late at night.

 

Only the first step

"HK Urban Canvas" had organized guided tours in which residents of the neighborhood were invited to act as local guides. Considering the paintings are only visible after day-time business hours, the team designed a mobile app such that the public can appreciate the artworks through augmented reality.

 

Tsang and the “HK Urban Canvas” team believe that shutter painting is only a first step. Their ultimate goal is to inspire a spectrum of activities through the colorful artworks, such that Hong Kongers could take a closer look at their communities, which in turn would promote local tourism and reinvigorate the community’s economy.