Artist South Ho talks about his work and new solo exhibition Wandering Daily
On the roof of Wah Luen Industrial Centre, in Fo Tan, Ho poses against a lush mountainous backdrop dotted with industrial warehouses and housing complexes. His studio is 11 floors below. 'It's great feng shui, actually, but these buildings only appeared around five years ago,' he says, gesturing towards the housing estates. 'Before that all you could see from here were green mountains.'
Observing the city and articulating its flux is second nature to the artist, who's been actively documenting the local landscape since 2005.
Me, My White Sneakers, and Shoelaces (2025) is part of the South Ho Siu Nam: Wandering Daily exhibition at Blindspot Gallery. Photo: courtesy artist and Blindspot Gallery
Over the years, it's not only Hong Kong's topography that Ho's been cataloguing. He's become the Hong Kong art world's favourite photographer, arriving at exhibition openings with camera in hand to capture community moments. He co-founded two of his own spaces – 100ft.PARK (2012-2017) and NewPark in 2022 – and is a well-established artist in his own right, too, known for his 'Every Daily' series from 2013 and its black-and-white wide shots of the cityscape superimposed with colourful grids.
When we meet, Ho has just returned from a trip to Kyoto, Japan, where his work is being shown at the Kyotographie International Photography Festival. The week before, he opened 'Wandering Daily', a solo show at
Blindspot Gallery in Wong Chuk Hang, featuring iterations on his 'Every Daily' series and works in which he's experimented with new techniques and media.
On view is It's golden (2025), a diptych that depicts a blurred, almost nostalgic view of the city on acrylic with 24K gold leaf. To create the piece, Ho used a pinhole camera and walked from
Victoria Peak to
Lion Rock . 'I wanted to see how the city has changed in the past five years from the perspective of these two important peaks,' he says.
South Ho's Me, My White Sneakers, and Shoelaces (2025) at Blindspot Gallery. Photo: courtesy artist and Blindspot Gallery
The artist also staged a rare performance titled Me, My White Sneakers, and Shoelaces (2025) at the exhibition opening. For it, he wore a pair of trainers from which 100-metre-long shoelaces sprung forth in a windy, maze-like arrangement across the gallery floor. Requiring careful navigation, audience members tiptoed, jumped and dodged the laces to avoid tripping, as Ho marched around the space trailing them behind him. While serving as a metaphor for navigating dense cities and convoluted situations, another inspiration behind the work stemmed from things accumulating as we age, just as the shoelace lengthens. 'As you get older you have more responsibilities,' says Ho. 'More restrictions, more memories. It all adds on.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
23 minutes ago
- South China Morning Post
Arsenal selfies, Spurs drones, a HK$200,000 bus: football fever sweeps Hong Kong
Football Festival fever swept Hong Kong as Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur met in the event's second and final match on Thursday. While the North London rivals prepared for their clash at Kai Tak Stadium, followers of the English Premier League clubs were in healthy competition off the pitch. Locally based and visiting supporters of both sides were snapping up merchandise, wining and dining, and attending festival-themed events, backing up forecasts that the city would enjoy up to HK$428 million (US$54.5 million) in economic benefits. A meet-and-greet at the Adidas store in Tsim Sha Tsui's K11 Musea mall on Wednesday sparked a rush for autographs and selfies with Arsenal player Declan Rice, before a Tottenham-themed drone show over Victoria Harbour pulled in crowds. Crowds enjoy a Tottenham-themed drone show over Hong Kong's harbour on Wednesday. Photo: Eugene Lee On Thursday, members of Arsenal's official fan club staged a football match at Go Park Sai Sha, where Arsenal Football School is based. Some Tottenham fans, meanwhile, were set to travel to the match from Central in an open-top bus hired and decorated at an estimated cost approaching HK$200,000, with a Spurs fan at the wheel.
South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong artists show experimental works at art museum on the China-North Korea border
This summer, Hong Kong artists Tsang Kin-wah and Mark Chung escaped their hometown's stifling heat by heading up to Dandong, the mainland Chinese frontier city best known for its border crossing with North Korea. Far-flung and with fewer than a million citizens, Dandong has become an unlikely magnet for contemporary artists and art lovers from all over the world. The reason is the Yalu River Art Museum, perched on a resort island just 500 metres (0.3 miles) from North Korean soil. The museum was founded in 2006 by businessman Ji Dahai, a Dandong native now based in Hong Kong. Over the years, the museum has built a solid reputation and is today considered one of the most cutting-edge contemporary art institutions in mainland China. Artists who have shown there include Beijing-based Song Dong, Robert Zhao from Singapore, and Swiss sculptor Katja Schenker. The two Hong Kong artists are the first from the city to exhibit at this singular institution, and they are creating some of their most experimental work there.
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Claims against pop star Kenshin Kamimura ‘exaggerated', Hong Kong court hears
An interpreter for Japanese pop idol Kenshin Kamimura exaggerated her evidence against him in his indecent assault trial in Hong Kong, defence lawyers have said in closing their case before dozens of fans. The defence on Thursday advanced closing remarks at West Kowloon Court after Kamimura decided not to testify about the alleged incident that led to his expulsion from Japanese boy band ONE N' ONLY and kept him in the city since March this year. The trial, which began on Wednesday , continued to attract hundreds of spectators, most of whom were fans of the 26-year-old artist. More than 200 admission tickets set aside for the public were distributed, but many of the court attendees were asked to watch a live broadcast of the hearing on separate floors of the court building. Kamimura appeared gaunt but relaxed throughout the two-hour hearing. Some fans broke down in tears upon seeing their idol walk past them during court adjournments. The defendant has denied a count of indecent assault for allegedly groping an interpreter at a fan meeting in Hong Kong while the organisers and staff celebrated their success at a restaurant in Mong Kok. The interpreter alleged the Japanese star repeatedly made swiping and tapping motions to touch her left thigh at Ming Kee Restaurant in the early hours of March 2, ignoring her cues that she did not welcome his advances.
