The High Island Open Story Room is designed by the Sai Kung Hoi Arts Festival curatorial team. Famous local illustrator Flyingpig is invited to create the mural paintings. Flyingpig specialises in documenting different community stories through her unique illustrations. This mural artwork demonstrates the past landscape of the various High Island villages and the special features of the Tin Hau Festival.
“I am very interested in the lives and stories of villagers,” Flyingpig shared with us, speaking of the inspiration for creating the High Island Open Story Room painting. “They shared enthusiastically during our lunch meeting. Someone said he grew up catching fish in the reservoir, while someone said he enjoyed playing football on the beach the most. The village head of Sha Kiu Village said his father collected sediments and gravel at the beachside to build their house, which took him a year to do so. They also mentioned villagers carried out reclamation in front of the Tin Hau Temple and how Tin Hau has been blessing them over the years. I am really happy to recall the stories with them together.”
These fragments of stories are recorded in the High Island Open Story Room for visitors to appreciate and enjoy.
Flyingpig (Wong Wing Shan) is an illustrator and an assistant professor at the Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University. Wong specialises in portraying narratives within communities while connecting to themes such as architecture, technology, memory and identity. Her publications include The Scenery of Old Shops (2016), an illustration book celebrating the owners and workers in traditional small businesses, and Once Upon a Time in Tai Kwun (2018), which collected 100 oral narratives shared by the old neighbours in Central, and was the inauguration exhibition of Tai Kwun – Heritage of Art and Culture. Wong’s recent research, the Barter Archive, received the Varley Memorable Award in 2020 and was granted funding by Art Council England. The project is ongoing and has collaborations with the Royal College of Art, Camberwell University of Arts and curators from the Tate Archive and the Whitechapel Gallery. The Museum of London, where Wong worked as a researcher in 2022, has collected this project, which has also gained media coverage in outlets such as The Guardian, The World of Interiors, It’s Nice That, The Londonist and South China Morning Post. Wong’s latest research project, “Foreseen Property Agency” (since 2023), secured support from the Hong Kong Art Development Council and Design Trust HK. This project explores future community conservation practices through exhibitions, digital archiving, 3D modelling, and commercial activities.
The online registration will be open from 2 Nov (Wed) 10am on a fortnightly basis, for the coming 2-4 weeks upon the system’s update. The registration schedule is as follows:
| Date Open for Registration | Newly Open Dates of the Programmes/Tours* |
|---|---|
| 2 Nov (Wed) | 16 Nov - 30 Nov |
| 16 Nov (Wed) | 1 Dec - 14 Dec |
| 30 Nov (Wed) | 15 Dec - 28 Dec |
| 14 Dec (Wed) | 29 Dec - 16 Jan |
| 3 Oct (Thu) | 13 Nov - 12 Jan |
