Hok Kwong (Pinhole Camera) |
Wood, brass plate, mirror, 15.2 x 15.2 x 15.2xm, 1996 |
I was invited by the photo magazine Dislocation to produce a work for the issue "Documentary Photography". The idea was to respond a news picture featuring a policeman filming the site of a certain incident with a video camera. I was inspired by his "monitoring". This piece is actually a pinhole camera that cannot be opened. (Be careful to look for the tiny hole on the brass plate.) I was thinking about the relationship between the viewer, his/her virtual image (made with the mirror) and real image (made with the camera). The inlaid brass signs on 3 sides of the camera are "K", "↑" and "H". I don't know why for long time H↑K has been used as the symbol for Hong Kong Government. However, in my physics class in the secondary school, I learnt "↑" as the symbol for image in the optics (Kwong Hok in Cantonese prouniciation) lesson. |
Hok Kwong (Reflected) |
Wood, brass plate, mirror, 15.2 x 15.2 x 15.2xm, 1996 |
It seems more interesting to flip over everything including that mirror in Hok Kwong (Pinhole Camera). It comes to the state that our real image can stare at our virtual image both of which, however are invisible to ourselves. |