Debe Sham 岑愷怡
Park Solo /Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre /Mar 13 – Sep 16, 2024 / Debe Sham’s exhibition Park Solo, at the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre, is spread throughout all five floors of this singularly shaped venue, and is best viewed by going down the stairs from the fifth floor all the way to the first – which opens onto Hong Kong Park’s children games precinct, a charming echo of some of the sculptures on display. The first works the visitor encounters on entering the building are Windmills (xx),a series of gold-plated, spiky, stainless-steel circles. “My inspiration for these comes from the colourful paper windmills people buy at temples during Lunar New Year for good fortune, called fongche. I find that this is a traditional Hong Kong shape that is quite overlooked. They are very characteristic and very beautiful,” says Sham. Like windmills, these golden, minimalistic fongche spin when touched or when the wind coming through the door is strong enough. As this first encounter makes clear, Sham’s practice is highly informed by play and …
