This work was made by artist Kang Ya-Chu during her three-month residency in Hong Kong in 2019. Ya-Chu was intrigued by Hong Kong’s transportation network as an entrepôt, its reclamation projects since the 1850s, her daily encounters and also the place you are now standing on – Tsuen Wan, a former textile industrial area created by land reclamation. Drawing from the above inspirations, she created and performed her work, titled Dirt Carpet #8 – Hong Kong. Kang’s Dirt Carpet is in the shape of Hong Kong’s five-cent stamp. Stamps have a commemorative value; by putting a stamp on a letter, it enables us to deliver messages, connects us to others and facilitates communication. For Kang, ‘xian' which is ‘cent’ in written Chinese, indicates the harmonious relationship between human and nature. Her various encounters and observations in Hong Kong, from a trolley used in the textile industry, to the road sign of Cotton Path, and even the way that Hong Kong Island was formed by a volcano, came together to form the Dirt Carpet stamp, which documents a Hong Kong seen through the eyes of the artist.

Supported by Centre for Heritage, Art & Textile/ The Mills 2019 Residency Project
Kwang Hwa Information and Culture Center/ Taiwan Arts Festival