(GayWebSource.com – Gay News & Press Network) – Posted by Jake Simpson – TheGayUK.com
Preview: The Unforgettable & the Unspoken: Oral History of Older Gay Men in
Hong Kong.
By Chris Bridges | 12th October 2014
15 – 17 October 2014 at King’s College, London
An exhibition of photography
This year’s Art & Humanities Festival at King’s College London, 15 – 24th of October, explores ‘underground’ literally and metaphorically through immersive events, theatre, music, exclusive underground tours, film screenings, specially commissioned site specific performances and a range of
debates about art, history, politics, freedom, protest, death and creativity. Since 2009, Travis Kong has been chronicling the oral history of gay men aged 60 or above in Hong Kong and has had regular private yum cha (‘drinking tea’) with them monthly since 2012.
He has just completed a Chinese book Oral History of Older Gay Men in Hong Kong, which documents the stories of twelve such men, capturing the complexity of their lives interwoven with Hong Kong history, as well as the difficulties and hardships they have encountered, especially due to their sexual orientation, through colonial to contemporary times. The publication of this book not only fills an unspoken gap in tongzhi (‘comrade’, synonym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) history in Hong Kong but also connects these neglected elderly people together. During the monthly private yum cha gatherings, the men shared their long-buried experiences with Kong.
The monthly gathering also inspired Kong to invite four artists, Chan Ka-kei, Gyorgy, Ali Palos, Bobby KH Sham and Wong Kan-tai, to document their current lives through photography. Since most of these gay men are still living in the closet, one of the greatest challenges for the artists was how to photograph these men without showing their faces. The other challenge for them was to seek ways to show these men’s intimate relationship with their specific living locales. This exhibition features the resulting works.
18.30 – 20.00, Thursday 16 October 2014
Exhibition of photography
18.30-21.30, Wednesday 15 October 2014
16.00-20.00, Thursday 16 and Friday 17 October
Anatomy Museum, King’s Building, Strand Campus
Talk
18.30-20.00, Thursday 16 October 2014. Travis Kong will show a short film about the project, followed by a talk and discussion with Professor Jeffrey Weeks OBE.
Nash Lecture Theatre, King’s Building, Strand Campus
Presented by the Lau China Institute, the Department of Film Studies & the Cultural Institute at King’s
Most events are free but will be ticketed. To book go to www.kcl.ac.uk/ahfest
@kingsartshums
#ahfest
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