World Refugee Day City Canvas Project

Hong Kong

2023

As the art coordinator, Narrative Made collaborated with UNHCR Hong Kong to host the first City Canvas project for World Refugee Day. The project showcases individual refugee stories and rich cultures, through the expression of Hong Kong based visual artists, on walls across the city.

Refugees have dramatic life encounters, having fled their homes to a new society, often bringing them traumatising experiences. They have limited platforms to express themselves, and most of the public remains unaware of their existence and stories. On the other hand, artists have the incredible gift of communicating deep and complex messages through creative visuals beyond words.

This project essentially paired refugee individuals and artists in the city to share about each other’s cultures and passions, from in-depth conversations over a meal to cooking a traditional dish together to introducing heritage design patterns or a language lesson. Everyone involved learned something new and gained a more profound respect for each other’s cultures.

I thank all storytellers for their trust and openness, and willing artists Francesco Lietti, Erin Hung, Kristopher Ho, Bo Law, Taka, Tony Cheung and a refugee artist for their considerate dialogues with refugees and thoughtful designs and fabulous creations! When the artists reinterpret these encounters, you see the displaced individuals’ characteristics, dreams and struggles.

We hope that through these paintings on the walls, refugees’ are made visible. We hope that they are windows to deeper curiosity and appreciation of the many cultures and experiences represented across the refugee community in Hong Kong.

www.unhcr.org/hk/en/city-canvas-project

Read on Garland Magazine an wrote about this project: https://garlandmag.com/article/city-canvas/