This catalogue is produced on the occasion of the exhibition 'About us, About Life & About the City' held at AO Vertical Art Space from 18 August to 14 September 2012.

'Six artists, six personal perspectives on a story about us, about life, and about the city.

'The vicissitudes of the city we call home are bound up within ourselves and our lives. In photographer Lau Wai’s case, it’s a notion expressed by a ‘restored’ mansion in the UK that came before her lens, and in the questions on the "reconstruction" and "reproduction" of history it raises. Interestingly, his works have also created a dialogue with Lau Chi-chung’s Forest without the Trees – marked by the historical footprints of not only the "restored" (United Kingdom), but also the ‘disappearing’ (Hong Kong).

'While landscapes are being transformed over time, time and space are hovering between the start and end. Lau Chi-chung referred to this phenomenon when he observed that ‘When, somewhere in the future, everything is to be engulfed by nature, the land will restore itself to the state without human intervention’. However, it could equally take the form of what South Ho depicts in Frozen Time: "Under the fluttering snowflakes as if the world has come to a dead standstill, human beings have begun to return to the fundamentals, the intrinsic value."

'South’s images, with their hints of The Story of the Stone (The Dream of the Red Chamber), remind me of the scene where "all that’s left after a heavy snowfall is a great void filled with emptiness" – a connotation which finds a distant echo in Gio Chung’s words: "I’m left with nothing but love."

'Even in reality, Rraay Lai challenges the modern way of living through his angst-ridden works of youth, while Jeremy Jangord portrays metropolitan lifestyles in the form of a film still. Limited neither by a beginning or an end, all these stories, narrated in different forms and angle, unfold with a sense of loneliness, frustration and desolation about the city, its life, and its people. It is as if this generation’s grievances against the social climate have found a voice – though one whose language is exclusively visual, and in a sense, more visceral than words.

'With today’s ubiquity of digital cameras, photography is increasingly misinterpreted as an ‘easy snap’. In truth, there is a difference between a ‘snap’ and an image of enduring worth. The latter is a deliberate and created thing, endowed with substantial meaning or value as a creative, continuous extension of conceptualisation and refinement. These are exactly the qualities demonstrated in this exhibition by six artists who belong to an ardent, young generation that represents the moving spirit of reality.

'In the real world, dreams are meant to be pursued and fulfilled; this exhibition is to be presented to those who are willing to overcome all obstacles to making their dreams come true.' (from website of AO Vertical Art Space)

Including artists' statements and biographies.

關於人、關於生活、關於城市。 六位藝術家以他們的角度去細說這樣的一個故事。 個人跟生活與及城市 的變遷環環相扣，劉衛所拍的是被「還原」的英國古老大宅，當中存著劉氏對歷史中「還原」以及「再現」的提問，她的此作品正好跟與劉智聰的《見林不見樹》 作了有趣的對話。同樣是存著歷史痕跡的地方，有被「還原」的 (英國），有逐漸消失於荒野中的（香港）。地景因時間不斷轉變，時空徘徊在開始與終結，不知道會否有一天就如劉智聰所說的「如果有一天一切讓大自然吞 噬」，土地會回到像沒有人類參與的時候，又或如何兆南的《冷與靜的時光》中那漫天風雪般，世界的發展彷彿已到了盡頭，人類漸漸回歸去尋找內在的價值，何氏 的作品令我想起【紅樓夢】的一句「落了片白茫茫大地真乾淨！」，它與鍾志豪的「我一無所有, 剩下的只有愛」遙遙呼應。回到現實，黎藝雄的作品同樣是關於城市以及生活，他對現代的生活模式提出質疑，但當中表現的，卻是一股青春的躁動，而 Jeremy的生活則是定格的電影情節，裡面說著不同的人在這個大都市生活的各種故事。這些作品像一個「環」，沒有開始，沒有終結，由城市到生活到人，雖 然大家用了不同的手法說故事，但當中同樣散發著一種屬於這一代的基調，一種孤獨、無奈及蒼涼，彷彿是一種年青人在這個大環境下無聲的控訴。當數碼攝影愈益 普及，攝影常被誤解為一件很容易的事。是次選出這六位藝術家的作品，都是一些持之以恆的拍攝計劃或經過反覆思量的嚴謹創作。在現實生活中令我感動的是，仍 有一班年青人會為了他們的理想不斷努力，我希望將這個展覽獻給他們以及一班同樣有理想的人，為了夢想，無論多困難也不要放棄。