Sunday, November 9, 2008

Building Materials

Hong Kong has surprised and intrigued me with its diversity of buildings. Last summer, as a prepared myself for a life here, looking at Google images of the skyline, and watching YouTube videos of the symphony of lights, I assumed that the city was made up, homogeneously, of shiny glass, skyscraper silver and twinkly lights. And while those elements exist, in abundance, so do grungy old apartment complexes, grandly deteriorating office buildings, dingy alleyways and endless amounts of bamboo scaffolding and green mesh. But the most amusing of all, for me, are the reflective surfaces that exist everywhere. At every height, of every colour, in every neighbourhood, and around every corner. In a city so dank with pollution, it seems fairy-tale-like at times, there are collages of squeaky clean mirrored surfaces all around me, bouncing images off one another, magnifying an illusion of depth and open space, and grabbing my attention out of my peripheral vision. I am captivated by them, and the art they compose, which changes each time I move the position of my own feet.

1 comment:

Christine said...

Wow, I can't even try to figure out what is real and what is reflection. I thought the bamboo was behind you...but wait, you're in front of you...ahhh. So cool!