Cameras Inside-out
Thematic Gallery (6),
Hong Kong Heritage Museum
04 February 2007 - 03 September 2007
 
Photography has witnessed a number of revolutions ever since it was invented in the early 19th century. To begin with, the camera was used as a tool for recording history, and it has thus played an important role in preserving objective images of different eras. But as the science and technology of photography have constantly evolved over the approximately two hundred years of its development, a continual revolution has been underway, the various stages of which can be marked by the emergence of traditional roll-film cameras, the Polaroid, fully automated cameras (point-and-shoot cameras) as well as the digital camera and camera phones. Under these circumstances, photography has gradually gone beyond the traditional task of providing a social record to become an effective media for artists to express their personalities and points of view. It is now an indispensable modern art form, in which photographers are increasingly emphasizing the fact that the world is observed through one's own eyes and attaching importance to the expression of individual opinions in their photographic works.


Looking at how the manufacture of cameras has evolved, the first part of this exhibition showcases a number of cameras collected by Mr David Chan that date back as far as one hundred years. Alongside this technical exploration, it also probes the development of the photographic art in a display of selected works by a group of senior local photographers including Kan Hing-fook, Tchan Fou-li, Leo K.K. Wong and Ngan Chun-tung. In the second part, the exhibition presents the diversity of modern photography through the works of five contemporary artists – Almond Chu Tak-wah, So Hing-keung, Bobby Sham Ka-ho, Lam Wai-kit and Chow Chun-fai – and aims to bring the viewer into the uniquely fascinating world of photography that uses the lens as a mirror for personal identity.


 
Exhibit Highlights

Hasselblad 1600F 6 x 6cm Single Lens Reflex Camera Hasselblad 1600F
6 x 6cm Single Lens Reflex Camera

1948 - 1952
Manufactured by Victor Hasselblad



Rolleicord I
Twin Lens Reflex 120 Camera

1933 - 1936
Manufactured by Franke & Heidecke

Rolleicord I Twin Lens Reflex 120 Camera


Still Night 1994-2000, #1 Still Night 1994-2000, #1
So Hing-keung
1994 - 2000
(Hasselblad 503CX Camera)



The Divided Minds (22)
Lam Wai-kit
2006
(Leica Minilux Camera)

The Divided Minds (22)


Last Supper, Renaissance Trilogy I Last Supper, Renaissance Trilogy I
Chow Chun-fai
2005
(Nikon D70 Digital Camera)



Untitled
Pun Yet-pore
1950s - 1970s
(Zeiss Ikon Camera)

Untitled


Approaching Shadow Approaching Shadow
Ho Fan
1956
(Rolleiflex 3.5 F Camera)



Small Photographer
Lo Tak-cho
1935 - 1944
(Rolleiflex Camera)

Small Photographer


7.1 (02) 7.1 (02)
Bobby Sham
2005
(Pinhole Camera)



Brownie Hawkeye Flash 620 Rollfilm Camera
Manufactured by Eastman Kodak
1950-1961

Brownie Hawkeye Flash 620 Rollfilm Camera


Girl with Long Hair Girl with Long Hair
Chung Man-lurk
1963
(Rolleicord Camera)



King Kong, Hong Kong City Hall
Yau Leung
1973
(Nikon Camera)

King Kong, Hong Kong City Hall


Leica I 35mm Camera Leica I 35mm Camera
Manufactured by Leitz Wetzlar
1930



Struggling
Tchan Fou-li
1967
(Hasselblad Camera)

Struggling


Wong Kar Wai, Film Director, Hong Kong Wong Kar Wai, Film Director, Hong Kong
Almond Chu
1996
(Hasselblad 500C/M Camera)





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