The 2016 WYNG Masters Award is centred around the theme of ‘Identity.’ Johnny Gin, one of the finalists, is interested in the examination of urban spaces and vernacular environments, as well as ways in which these spaces inform us about the culture and identity of a city.
He is a copywriter and a photographer living and working in Hong Kong and is currently enrolled in the MFA Photography programme at SCAD HK. His work will be exhibited in the WYNG Masters Award Exhibition from April 10 to April 19, 2016.
“The spontaneous barricades in Central were erected with great expediency and resolve, and with seemingly little regard to formal aesthetics. Over time, their configurations were continuously reshaped like communal sculptural objects that are perpetually ‘works in progress,’” said Gin in his project statement.
“Set against a backdrop of Government buildings and monolithic office towers, this somewhat ‘nostalgic’ mode of resistance encircled a singular ‘privatised public’ space, underscoring the dialectical relationship between traditional power structures and their subversive counterparts,” added Gin.
Other finalists in the competition include Dinu Li, Emmanuel Serna, Leung Chi Wong + Sara Wong, Remmus Ha, and Siu Wai Hang. Special mentions went to Irving Cheung and Pun Ho Yan.
