FUNG Wan Hei
St. Paul's Convent School

My artwork takes a first-person view of the memories the writer had as a naïve child looking at different aspects of Shanghai Street. The writer speaks in the voice of her younger self, who had no knowledge of Chinese rituals, and was often in confusion. The use of sharp colours help to express the festive cultures that she could recall, and it also brings out the value of the customs that she found strange at first.

The coin, the sweet and tissue paper the writer received in a packet are pictured at the bottom, reflecting her experience at a funeral. She reminisced her young self, ignoring the incongruity of the unknown elements, yet mentioning death is considered a taboo, which Chinese people seldom talk about. Not a soul to be seen in a street is common during the ghost festival as it’s said that evil spirits might haunt or possess people’s spirits. The thought bubbles resemble the experience of witnessing her grandmother burning joss paper and paper effigies to the deceased, and seeing foreigners bewildered at elusive shop signs that seem to signify happiness but are in fact referring to death-related items.

All in all, this piece conveys how the writer has experienced several cultural discoveries and gradually come to realisation.