From Hong Kong to Wickford: A Multifaceted Pictorial Display with Stories

From Hong Kong to Wickford: A Multifaceted Pictorial Display with Stories
by Ho Wai-On * and friends (* known locally as Ann-Kay)
25 September – 16 December 2023
St Andrew’s Church, 11 London Road, Wickford SS12 0AN

The multifaceted pictorial display created by Wickford-based composer Ho Wai-On features stories of a lifetime of interaction with UK-Hong Kong based artists/people that have resulted in many creative works. Includes work by Clark Ainsworth, Juliet Chenery-Robson, Ruth Cutler, Graham Ekins, Polly Hope, Kitty Kwan, Stephen Matthews, Choy May-Chu, Ben Rector, Roy Reed, Martin Singleton, Albert Tang, Marcus West, and Benson Wong ...

Exhibition viewing evening – Friday 6 October, 7.00 – 9.00 pm.

St Andrew’s is usually open: Sat 9am-12.30pm; Sun 9.30am-12 noon; Mon 2-3.45pm; Tue 1-4.30pm; Wed 10am-12 noon; Fri 10am-1pm

FROM HONG KONG TO WICKFORD
A Multifaceted Pictorial Display with Stories
At Wickford Andrew's Church 25 Sep to 16 Dec 2023
Project by Dr Ho Wai-On (known as Ann-Kay locally) *
and Revd Jonathan Evens

* Ho Wai-On: surname HO, known to colleagues as Wai-On. In Hong Kong the surname is followed by the given name that represents the individual. Known to locals as Ann-Kay (her childhood name).

Ho Wai-On is best known as a composer and creator/director of combined arts works and projects.

My memory of life in Hong Kong (HK) is about 15 years, which is about the same as I have been living in Wickford. In between, for more than 30 years, I lived mostly in London and went back to HK from time to time. With UK-based professionals in creative and performing arts, I created and staged performances of works/projects that combine music, dance, drama and visual art across different cultures, sometimes with relevant displays. Wickford is not an art/cultural centre like London and my health makes me more housebound, so I use the Internet as my performing venue. I focus on creating music videos and a multifaceted website where I update new materials regularly.

My Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AKLHWO/videos
My Website: howaion.co.uk

During the Tiananmen Square incident I happened to be in HK staging a performance. At that time, the HK press/media showed me what I would not have seen had I been in London. I was moved by the HK people's pro-democracy activities and their fear of the 1991 Handover. As HK was under British rule and had been practising the British judicial system since 1841, many Hongkongers considered emigrating to the UK. To promote greater understanding between the two people, I staged “Theme Hong Kong” - a one week event of HK-UK related creative performative programmes at London's Southbank Centre, with relevant displays at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and other London Boroughs. The 2nd leg was held in Hong Kong.

The recent upheavals in HK resulted in many Hongkongers moving to the UK again. This multifaceted pictorial display at St. Andrew's Church features stories of my lifetime's interaction with UK-HK based artists and people and the resulting creative works, and tells you about these people and their work. I hope this might encourage audiences' interest in getting to know more.

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Ho Wai-On - Fly Wild.

George Morl: Electrum Spektrum

‘Electrum Spektrum’ is an installation at Chelmsford Museum by Basildon born artist George Morl. The installation has grown from a series of projects and evolving conversations with students in Cornwall and Essex. It features artworks by Morl and the students, and work from their collaborative collection of art. The works trace the evolution of social and technological networks and reflect on conversations about their experiences of online spaces.

Since 2020 Morl has been working in partnership with students from Elm Class, Nancealverne School in Penzance as well as support centres in Essex: two regions linked by the development of wireless radio. This ongoing collaboration has also explored fiction in gaming and art, the development of communication history, as well as creating artwork and their own workshops.

In 2022 they began to build an art collection together centred on the needs of disabled people and encompassing a broad range of sensory engagements. They have acquired artworks by artists such as Grayson Perry with the selection based on their own interests and accessibility needs.

Earlier this year at St Andrew's Wickford Morl spoke about their experience as collector and in an exhibition called New Town, New Collection showed work by Grayson Perry, Elsa James, Madge Gill, Rosie Hastings & Hannah Quinlan, Uma Breakdown, as well as a selection of their own work. Through founding a collection which reflects on the communal legacies of New Towns, Plotlands, and the possibility of human connections across the virtual world, Morl visions a future art collection centring support. In their talk Morl shared the joy of acquiring art, and motivations for building a collection to share for others.

Morl identifies with Perry’s use of imagination and construction of identity in his art, and sees parallels with using virtual spaces as a young person. It was Perry’s work that inspired Morl to study art at South Essex College in 2013.

A selection of works by Perry can be seen in the Ceramics Gallery at Chelmsford Museum. These include the 'Chelmsford Sissies' pot, the 'Julie Tile', the limited-edition print ‘England as seen from Lockdown in Islington’, which was created in 2021 during the Channel 4 series ‘Grayson’s Art Club’, and an 'Untitled' drawing depicting a hybrid of rural and urban Essex – a unique portrait of Perry’s hometown of Chelmsford.

Also to be seen at Chelmsford Museum is Behind the Rainbow, a collection of personal stories and experiences from the LGBTQ+ community, showing the creativity, complexity, and humanity of its members. This exhibition recognises the relationship between self-expression and identity and invites visitors to connect and empathise with the people behind the stories. 

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Joy Oladokun - Keeping The Light On.

Foyer Display: Andrew Carter & Helen Ireland

‘Float’ & ‘Black and Blue’, handprinted on Japanese paper, 120cm x 45 cm, 2019, collaborative linocut prints by Andrew Carter & Helen Ireland

St Martin-in-the-Fields is home to several commissions and permanent installations by contemporary artists. We also have an exciting programme of temporary exhibitions, as well as a group of artists and craftspeople from the St Martin’s community who show artwork and organise art projects on a temporary basis. One of the initiatives from this group is a changing display of work by the group members or artists linked to the group. Each month a different artist shows examples of their work, so, if you are able, do return to see the changing display.

‘Float’ was made in response to a walk along Studland and Shell Bay in Dorset, watching and collecting pieces of seaweed as they washed up and floated in the tide. Helen made a series of drawings from the sea weed and then we both cut the blocks and printed them with transparent ink so that the shapes would appear as layered, delicate traces. This piece was printed over a part of the second, splash print.

‘Black and Blue’ came about through a process of experimentation with making transient marks. Splashing, dripping, throwing and making spontaneous ink marks became the basis of this careful and slowly made print. This piece is about different types of time. A quick emotional response made slowly. The overlaying of two strong colours feels bold and all of the accidental markings have become deliberate and permanent.

Both works are made by the two of us; shared response, shared drawing and cutting blocks, choosing colour and printing. All takes time and requires decision making and working together. It has been an exciting challenge and these are the results. Both prints are Artists’ Proofs from an edition of 20.

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Cowboy Junkies - Powderfinger.

Robert Plant on The One Show

Thanks to my nephew, Paul Loftus, I saw Robert Plant on The One Show on Friday. Plant is a great collaborator and makes stunning music in a variety of different styles when, as he says in the interview, he experiences a communion of souls. I particularly loved the albums he made with T Bone Burnett and Buddy Miller but his new album, though very different, sounds equally wonderful. Seeing him perform and talk, his enjoyment of the music and where it takes him is just massively evident.

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Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters - Rainbow.