Performance art by South Ho makes a point about Hong Kong's red lines under security law
There were hoots of laughter as the artist South Ho Siu-nam performed his new live performance piece during the May 10 opening of his exhibition 'Wandering Daily' in Hong Kong.
Wearing a pair of plain white, basic trainers laced up with different ends of the same 100-metre-long shoelace, Ho strutted around Blindspot Gallery in Wong Chuk Hang in faux military style, dragging a long trail of white string through the crowded room in his wake.
It caused mild mayhem as members of the audience scuttled out of the way or became awkwardly entangled when they refused to budge.
Me, My White Sneakers, and Shoelaces was Chaplinesque in its comedy and just as serious. This was an illustration of Hong Kong's reality since the introduction of National Security Law in 2020: there is still a lot you can do – the shoelace gave plenty of slack – but the line is always there.
South Ho performs Me, My White Sneakers, and Shoelaces at Blindspot Gallery in Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong, on May 10, 2025. Photo: Ray Leung courtesy of artist and Blindspot Gallery
'Wandering Daily' is his first solo Hong Kong show since 2019 and it is a quietly impassioned response to how socially engaged artists continue to stay true to their art despite the new red lines.
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South China Morning Post
25-05-2025
- South China Morning Post
Artist South Ho talks about his work and new solo exhibition Wandering Daily
It's rare to catch artist and photographer South Ho Siu-nam in front of the camera, but when you do, it turns out he's quite a natural. 'I know what to give the photographer,' says Ho, breaking his searing camera-ready gaze with a playful smile and breezy confidence. 'I know all the tricks.' 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 – (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.'
South China Morning Post
24-05-2025
- South China Morning Post
This week in PostMag: from Milan's Chinatown to nomads in Malaysian Borneo
My best ideas always come when I'm in motion. For years, that movement came through cycling through Shanghai's tree-lined streets, legs pumping until I arrived either at some kind of breakthrough or my destination, whichever came first. Now, my most productive brainstorming is relegated to the interminably long walks underground on either end of my commute. (Getting out for a proper Hong Kong hike is on my list, promise.) But like many things, it turns out that my experience is, in fact, far more universal than I'd imagined. Perhaps there's studies about the link between moving and ideas – is it increased blood circulation? The cacophony of the outside world forming white noise to cocoon us in our own thoughts? Whatever the reason, movement as the cure to a creative block is a frequent refrain among the artists we interview. Hong Kong photographer South Ho Siu-nam is one of them, discovers Aaina Bhargava in our cover story this issue, as he describes walks around Sha Tin as his remedy to get unstuck. There's a poetic quality to his art – considered black-and-white cityscapes overlaid with coloured grids he describes as a meditative process that's connected to memories of his late father. Ho currently has a solo show on view at Blindspot Gallery in Wong Chuk Hang, and you have until June 7 to catch it. Reflection and introspection is also a journey that Esslin Terrighena finds herself on, albeit farther afield in Malaysian Borneo. She writes about what she learns from her time spent with the Penan, a once-nomadic hunter-gatherer community. As the world around them has modernised, they've adapted while maintaining a connection to the forest and land – offering lessons all us city dwellers could take on board. Changing communities are inevitable wherever you are in the world. John Brunton explores Milan's evolving Chinatown, a neighbourhood rich with history that's developed its own Chinese-Italian identity. And what's more? There's a Hong Kong connection, too. It's home to Trippa Milano, the sister restaurant of Central's own Testina. I hate to leave you on a grim note, but I fear I must. The final remaining feature in this issue centres on Christopher Munn's new book Penalties of Empire. Fionnuala McHugh dives into Hong Kong's history of capital trials, which, thankfully, came to an end in 1966. It may not be a light read, but it's a fascinating one.
South China Morning Post
20-05-2025
- South China Morning Post
Performance art by South Ho makes a point about Hong Kong's red lines under security law
There were hoots of laughter as the artist South Ho Siu-nam performed his new live performance piece during the May 10 opening of his exhibition 'Wandering Daily' in Hong Kong. Wearing a pair of plain white, basic trainers laced up with different ends of the same 100-metre-long shoelace, Ho strutted around Blindspot Gallery in Wong Chuk Hang in faux military style, dragging a long trail of white string through the crowded room in his wake. It caused mild mayhem as members of the audience scuttled out of the way or became awkwardly entangled when they refused to budge. Me, My White Sneakers, and Shoelaces was Chaplinesque in its comedy and just as serious. This was an illustration of Hong Kong's reality since the introduction of National Security Law in 2020: there is still a lot you can do – the shoelace gave plenty of slack – but the line is always there. South Ho performs Me, My White Sneakers, and Shoelaces at Blindspot Gallery in Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong, on May 10, 2025. Photo: Ray Leung courtesy of artist and Blindspot Gallery 'Wandering Daily' is his first solo Hong Kong show since 2019 and it is a quietly impassioned response to how socially engaged artists continue to stay true to their art despite the new red lines.
