The Flower Show, by Paul Yeung

The Hong Kong Flower Show is an annual exhibition held for around 10 days in Victoria Park, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors. Flowers have always been attention-grabbers since ancient times.

Having worked as a photojournalist, I have always had a passion for expanding the world of photo documentary. Traditional photo documentary expresses empathy by focusing on the most neglected minorities in society. It aims to arouse resonance and concern from the world through emotional images and motivating the world to act and to do good deeds. I strongly uphold this belief, even to an extent that is out of my expectation.

In spite of my care about society, I have taken the opposite approach from the accustomed photo documentary. My camera captures ordinary people and acts as a witness of our own behaviour. I am interested in the following questions – what causes every move we make? How do our thoughts, cultures and habits become mainstream? Like father, like son – a certain kind of society breeds the same certain kind of people; similarly, a certain kind of people breeds the same certain kind of society. In simple terms, the anxiety evoked from bandwagon effect, unconscious consumerism and short-sighted utilitarianism have engulfed the mainstream in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Flower Show is an annual exhibition held for around 10 days in Victoria Park, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors. Flowers have always been attention-grabbers since ancient times. I am not sure why it is, but I am so captivated by the floral designs on the clothing of the many visitors which mimic the show itself. The floral uniform and grandeur of all on display and my attraction to them result in a form of pictorialism. If you mock at my extreme self-ridicule, remember to self-ridicule yourself first.