Samuel Lou, School of History

Shifting the Focus: Refocusing Photographies in British Hong Kong (*Content Notes)

Photography plays a crucial role in colonial history. As suggested by Susan Sontag in her book On Photography, photographing the world is a mean of collecting the world. Photographs in colonised lands have inseparable links with imperialism and western hierarchy. As shown in the case of Africa, India and America, photography is also practised as a way of archaeology collection of human types.

This project will shift the focus from commonly explored former British colonies to a place which shares less spotlight, Hong Kong. Excluding three years and eight months occupation period by the Japanese, the place was under British rule for ninety-nine years until 1997. Because of its geographic location and historical background, the place experiences a different colonial experience than the others. This led to unique sets of photographs presented from this place.

Through examining the legacy of photographs of post-war (1945-1984) British Hong Kong, this research aims to explore other possibilities and perspectives in photographs during colonisation. The examination of the chosen photography genre, lifestyle photography and street photography, will be divided into three sections, the photographers' intention, photographed subjects, and the presentation and understanding. An approach of comparing western photographers and native photographers will be attempted in each section. Since the place and time explored are unpopular, I would apply theories and arguments from other British colonies' photographs to examine my findings.

By reshifting and repositioning the focus on British Hong Kong photography from 1945 to 1984, I wish to propose alternative perspectives on photography during colonisation.

* Content Notes: presentation will discuss racism and colonisation, photography also may show images of nudity, death and cruelty

BA History and Sociology, Final Year (she/her)
I am currently a final-year student studying History and Sociology. Originating from Hong Kong, I came to the University of Leeds in 2020 for my study. In the past three years, I have explored early modern history, colonial history and cultural studies. My dissertation project researches photographs of British Hong Kong in the period 1945-1980. I am also working on another self-driven project exploring food, culture, history and identity.