Taste the Happiness with Our Very Beginning Mind

Living in a city where consumerism is badly prevalent, what gets us excited appears to be relating to materials. Even the happiness we once knew is now re-defined or measured by our material desires and it has been objectified as a product that needs a beautiful packaging image in order to better convince people that is happiness. When we finish purchasing one ‘happiness,’we would move on to another, and that becomes an endless cycle.

No matter how this new definition of happiness is well calculated, there are always some exceptions. Keith Fong Ka Yeung is a Hong Kong photographer. Hong Kong is his home but this densely populated, fast-paced and highly commercialised city always gives him a constant feeling of chaos and haste. He also becomes aware that everyone in this city has been in a rat race for most of his or her life, and yet we have to keep working hard as if we were part of the gear or wheels in a machine that never allows us to stop working. That just makes Keith feel suffocated and he wants a change, thusly he starts to do something new and embarks on a new journey. In his trip to Myanmar, Keith discovered the uniqueness of this country through the lens – chaos and harmony can coexist. Keith’s camera has captured the refined, timeless and poetic moments that tell many soul-touching stories: a vender on the way home with his daughter traversing along the dark roads, last love farewell couple at train station, passengers sleeping in the temple and the soft sunlight coming through the windows… All of them might not have a lot of material possessions and some even have to deal with the burden of their lives, but you could still find a sense of quietness and calm from their friendly faces. And that is the most beautiful thing you could hardly see from the hustle city we are living in.

Odia Lei is a freelance photographer from Macau, who has always been concerned about the poor students from the mountain and rural areas. The exhibiting photos were taken when she volunteered in the mountains of Nepal. The stories of poverty behind the photos are beyond the imagination of those who are from the rich and urban cities. Whilst looking at their smiley faces, we would be probably quite confused because if happiness is really defined by our material desire, what actually make the villagers smile?

Looking at the works of the two photographers, I can't help but think of the quote from Chinese novelist Yu Hua's To Live: People are here to live for life, instead of living for the objects that does not matter to life. I don’t really know how many people can live for life and how many people would strive to live to please others. Whether you choose the former or the latter, please pick one photo that reveals how you think from the exhibition, trying to recall your very beginning mind and remember that smile even if it just only for one second.

Curator
Joey Ho Chong I