A visual representation of "City" by Louise Ho
LAU Kak Yan Megan
St. Paul's Convent School
My work depicts the greatest irony of a bustling city – homelessness. The use of black and white around the homeless man in my artwork symbolises his deep-rooted loneliness, which is in stark contrast to the colourful street view.
I intend to visualise the scenes depicted in the poem ‘City’ by Louise Ho, which demonstrates a unique element of pain that cannot be experienced in our daily life, and I hope that through this artwork the audience could develop empathy for the homeless.
This artwork also strives to raise awareness of the issue of vagabonds and homelessness in Hong Kong, especially when the number of cases of homelessness has skyrocketed during the critical times of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It also serves as a reminder to the audience that they should be grateful in spite of the struggling situation. This is because we are more fortunate than a significant number of people who are struggling to make ends meet, such as the street sleepers. It is hoped that everyone can stay positive and offer help to those in need.
City
No fingers claw at the bronze gauze
Of a Hong Kong December dusk,
Only a maze of criss-crossing feet
That enmeshes the city
In a merciless grid.
Between many lanes
Of traffic, the street-sleeper
Carves out his island home.
Or under the thundering fly-over,
Another makes his own peace of mind.
Under the staircase,
By the public lavatory,
A man entirely unto himself
Lifts his hand
And opens his palm.
His digits
Do not rend the air,
They merely touch
As pain does, effortlessly.
Louise Ho
“City” was published in Incense Tree: Collected Poems of Louise Ho by Louise Ho, p.45.
Copyrights © 2009 by Hong Kong University Press. Reprinted by permission of Hong Kong University Press.