The Sunday Mingpao collection of Tozer Pak Sheung Chuen consists of clippings of the newspaper from 2003 to 2024. As one of the major artist-columnists of Sunday Mingpao, the longest-running art and culture supplement featuring contemporary art and artists in Hong Kong since 2002, Pak’s collection captures the simultaneous development of the art ecology, artistic collaborations, and forms of distribution in newspapers during the first two decades of the 2000s, and his own creative practice.

Biographical Notes
Tozer Pak Sheung Chuen (白雙全) was born in Fujian in 1977 and moved to Hong Kong in 1984. He graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2002 with a major in Fine Arts and a minor in Theology. His artistic practice spans multiple mediums, including photography, video, painting, installation, and collage. Through his poetic and intangible creations, he captures observations from daily life. Pak is also actively involved in community engagement and art education.

Dedicated to democratising art out of traditional gallery spaces, Pak also engages with media outlets such as the press, book publishing, blogging, and social media. His works have been compiled in Visual/Textual City: See Walk What on 1 July (2005), Visual/Textual City: Odd One In: Hong Kong Diary (2005), and Visual / Textual City: Odd One in II: Invisible Travel (2009). His work Meeting with Mr. Bus After Ten Years (2015) is a sequel of the Familiar Digits for an Unknown Telephone. His project Going Home Projects was commissioned by the 2010 Taipei Biennial, and held a book launch for Journey to the Valley: Expedition to the Missing Spots on the Map in 2016.

Pak started contributing to Sunday Mingpao, the art and culture supplement of Ming Pao newspaper, in May 2003. Led by editor Helen Lai (黎佩芬), Sunday Mingpao features visual art, comics, cinema, literature, music, and current affairs to provide young minds with leisurely explorations of different social and cultural phenomena. Sunday Mingpao played a crucial role in connecting artists, the press, and cultural audiences, and had a large influence on the development of art practice and the fashioning of cultural identity in post-1997 Hong Kong. Collaborating with various artists such as Pak, but also Luke Ching, Law Yuk Mui, Lee Chi Hoi, Natalie Lo Lai Lai, Kong Khong Chang, Justin Wong, and Ricky Yeung, and bridging them with its readers, Sunday Mingpao helped popularise Hong Kong visual arts, and largely contributing to their success.

Pak’s work first gained exposure through his collaboration with Sunday Mingpao. His series included “Odd One In” (2004–06, 2015–16, and 2022), “1000x1000 Fantasy Sunday” (2022), “Negative Energy Converter” (2022), and “Contemporary Art Intervention in Social Welfare” (2023).

His columns, “Image Zone” and “Visual/Textual City,” featured artworks alongside editorial content, spanning drawings, digital images, and photographs with short captions. These columns also included prose, poems, essays, and social commentaries, offering readers insights into art, exhibitions, art history, and literature. Thematic interviews and social criticism were interspersed throughout, providing added contextualisation for its readers.

The Pak Sheung Chuen Archive offers insight into how artists and readers interact with one another to shape society. The archive holds significant relevance to the history of exhibitions and art writing in Hong Kong, particularly from the early 2000s where documentation is scarce. The archive illuminates the diverse art practices of prominent artists within the newspaper medium, reflecting the evolving social and media landscape.

Scope and Content 
The Pak Sheung Chuen Archive: Sunday Mingpao is organised by publishing date, with a focus on artistic contributions published in sections “Sing Kei Yat Sun Wood” and “Sunday Workshop” of the newspaper.

Dates (inclusive) 
2004–2020 (phase 1)

Language 
Traditional Chinese

Collection Access 
Open for research. Onsite-only and restricted materials—including but not limited to correspondence, newspaper clippings, and unpublished writings—are available for consultation at AAA in Hong Kong, New Delhi, and New York. Please submit the Application for Access to Research Collections Form at least five working days in advance.

Collection Use 
Subject to all copyright laws. Permission to publish materials must be obtained from copyright owners. Please contact research@aaa.org.hk for further enquiries.

Archival History and Project Team
The Pak Sheung Chuen Archive: Sunday Mingpao is part of the project Recalling Disappearance: Hong Kong Contemporary Art. The digitisation started in May 2024. Phase 1 containing over 400 records launched in September 2024.

The project was developed by Anthony Yung and Hazel Kwok, with support from Isabella Chan and Aki Kung. Shirley Au contributed as Guest Researcher. The physical materials were digitised by Research Assistant Cho Wing Ki, Ho Ting, and Chung Wong.

Acknowledgements
Recalling Disappearance: Hong Kong Contemporary Art is financially supported by the Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The content of this programme does not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. 

Extent

68 Folders, 443 Records

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