Reinterpreting the journeys of the displaced through art

In speaking with Basem*, he suggested that we met over curry at Chungking Mansions. He seemed to light up when he talked about cooking and the sharing of food. This inspired me to consider how different cuisines are parallel to how we perceive people of other nations. It can sometimes feel threatening (like how I expressed that I didn’t like my food too spicy) and requires an open mind to try and take a taste. In further exploring this analogy, I named it the Table illustration because we gather around it for food, having a seat at the table means being equal, *To protect the personal privacy of the refugee, pseudonym is used.

There are a few concept I want to put in my creation. An abstract human face. This is no one that just to represent and metaphor of a life. Kigali Skylines. I added 2 landmarks of Kigali which are Kigali City Tower and Kigali Convention center. Cassava plant. Rwanda is called The land of thousand hills, this patterns to represent that. Sun as the Rwandan flag has it. Imigongo patterns. Cow horns. Rose as it is a national flower of Rwanda. The lines represents connections. She explained people help and care each other so wanted to express that in abstract way. Remarks: The name of art “Ndi” means “I am” in Kinyarwanda, the national language of Rwanda.

The idea is to depict an iconic skyline of Hong Kong, while embedding elements of the story we heard : the plane to come to HK, the Chungking Mansions, where many refugees reside. The mural will feature the Nathan Road Mosque, plus a Church and a Temple, to indicate how this city allows different cultures to closely and harmoniously live together, freely expressing their religious beliefs. Some of the buildings and the sky will have patterns making reference to the traditional Pakistani patterns we studied. Color scheme of the mural will take inspiration from the beautiful dish we tasted together, the chicken biryani, with its warm color palette of creams, yellows, oranges, pinks and greens. We may also try to include some catch words like: As Salamu Alaykum or Salam Alaykum, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Multi Culture, Seeking, Safty, A Home, Limbo.

I want to draw a painting of houses, and I like colors, and that is why I want to combine the two things together. Houses in Hong Kong are so different from those in my homeland. Neighbourhoods are different. In Hong Kong, people are scattered and distanced, and I am scared. In my homeland, people share food and open doors but it is different in Hong Kong. Here is a much bigger city than my motherland, but people don’t listen to each other. I want people to know this is how I see houses, people should be more connected and listening to others, at the same time it is safe to be colorful with every house having different colors. Another thing I like is the sky. It looks more or less the same, watching from different corners. Among all the times in the day, I like the sky at night the most. I like the galaxy and stars at night. I find seeing stars blink in the galaxy very peaceful. The night I see in Hong Kong is as beautiful as I saw it in the past back in my homeland. I wish people can see us the same no matter where we are and who we are, just like we are seeing the sky.

When we encounter something new, we can first observe what is unique and what information it provides to understand its essence. We accumulate experiences bit by bit, creating a unique impression of that thing in our minds. Davido* faced discrimination due to his homosexuality since childhood, which prevented him from having the opportunity to establish relationships. In reality, he is just like you and me. This piece is the image of Davido in my mind. Through this experience, I hope that one day he will no longer feel like a caged bird. *To protect the personal privacy of the refugee, pseudonym is used.

The mural focuses on the idea of breaking away from the past trauma and the courage to move forward. Since we are working with the Asian United Cricket Club, the mural is divided into two layers. Tiger was chosen as the metaphor of the subject, echoing the idea of power and courage to break away from the past, as well as the power required when bowling. The bowling hand is seen being restrained, yet they are being broken as the action takes place, reiterate the theme.