Art and the City 🖼️

Some arty things that I did (relatively) recently

May 21, 2025

Art Basel, Hong Kong

As a child, I didn’t understand much about art. I still don’t, but in the intervening years, I have grown to better appreciate different artistic mediums and expressions. And I try where possible to learn more about the artists behind the work when I visit a museum or an exhibition.

I believe that some of my past thinking was a result of teenage insecurity, a huge level of ignorance, and because I wasn’t raised in a household where we talked about creative pursuits, unless you counted whatever computer game that I was playing. (Although my adult revision of what constitutes as art means that computer games definitely make the list).

Another important factor is that I hold some lingering resentment at the poor quality of my art lessons at school. I have patchy memories of creative subjects like music and textiles not being given the same weight to other parts of the curriculum like Maths and the sciences, which irritated me (and as a teacher for 16 years, unfortunately, I saw that was still often the case in some schools I worked in). Plus, I noticed how the average student (like myself) was often side-lined in favour of the more talented individuals, most notably in art lessons, which increased the sense that art was not for the likes of me.

And then there was sketchbook-gate. I would have been around 14-years old and it was roughly half-way through the academic year when the art teacher said that he needed to mark our sketchbooks. Weeks later and when there was still no sign of our sketchbooks being returned, my mum contacted the school. It transpired that the teacher had ‘misplaced’ the entire class set and somehow thought that the group would forget about this. I have no clue how that could happen, but it was a bit like the final nail in the coffin for my interest in what I understood as art at the time.

Anyway, all of this is to say that I have a weird chip on my shoulder about appreciating art several decades on, which perhaps a little oddly brings me to Art Basel.

Beginning in Basel, Switzerland in the 1970s, the contemporary art festival now holds four annual events, including one in Hong Kong. Back in March, my husband and I bought tickets for the Saturday afternoon and he suggested that we set a two-hour time limit otherwise we could reach art overwhelm. A wise man.

Let’s just say that the art on display was not quite in our price-point, and while I am being upfront, much of the art itself was not really my jam. Having said that there was some great people watching to be had, and there were several pieces that I did enjoy, including this by Aoyama Satoru: ‘Come see what’s real’.

I like humour with my art, but I especially love a protest piece.

Aoyama Satoru: ‘Come see what’s real’ (2019-2921)

HK Walls

My underlying interest in protest art is probably what has led to my desire to learn more about graffiti and street art over the past decade.

HK Walls is held annually and street artists are invited to showcase their work in some of the local neighbourhoods (with permission from the government and building owners). For the past two years, I have been able to join one of the official walking tours led by Alex from Wanderlust Walks Hong Kong. Here is a selection of pieces that I snapped (unfortunately, I wasn’t quite as rigorous with recording the artists’ details as I was last year):

An introduction to linocut printing

Nearly three decades since sketchbook-gate and almost eight after having moved to Hong Kong, I feel as though I have been steadily recapturing a creative part of myself. This is the same part that felt that ‘art was not for the likes of me’, but to be fair, my attention over the years had been captured by other things like a demanding job, and not making time for creativity.

In recent years, I have completed life-drawing classes, embroidery workshops, and attempted wood-work. More recently, I completed a course in linocut printing taking inspiration from my trip earlier this year to Arizona. And it has been refreshing to enter a space where I can just play around for a few hours, without fear of trying to make things perfect, or risk having my work misplaced. I am clearly bringing some of my millennial hobby energy to this phase of my life!

‘Kokopelli’ a fertility deity venerated by several Native American tribes

Some work in progress of linocut reductions 🌵

See you next time!

Sarah

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