Presented & curated by: C & G Artpartment CIC
Venue Partners:Bloc Projects, Saan1

Exhibition DETAIL:

Artists:
Teerawat Mulvilai (P Kage) (Thailand),
Mayco NAING & Isabelle Ha EAV (Burma), Sai ______ (Burma), Min Ma Naing (Burma)
Fredie CHAN Ho Lun 陳浩倫 (Hong Kong), CHOW Chun Fai 周俊輝(Hong Kong), Giraffe LEUNG Lok Hei梁洛熙(Hong Kong)
Lumli Lumlong淋漓淋浪 (Hong Kong), TANG Kwok Hin 鄧國騫(Hong Kong), Kacey WONG黃國才 (Hong Kong)

I. Exhibition in Manchester, UK
Date: 7 - 22 May 2022
Time: Thu to Sun, 11am to 6pm
Venue: Saan1, Northern Quarter, 5 Kelvin Street, Manchester, M4 1ET, UK

**Curator and Artist Talk: **
3:30 - 5:30pm, (Sat)7 May 2022

Curators and participating artists will have a sharing session about their works in the exhibition, and discuss the influence of the extending ‘censorship-red-line’ on their practice.

With guest respondent: YAU Hong Pong (Former HK District Councilor &independent filmmaker)

The talk will last 2 hours. While the 1st hour will be conducted in a hybrid mode (with online audience), the 2nd hour will mainly be on-site discussion at the venue.

Please click HERE to Register to join the online sharing session

II. Exhibition in Sheffield, UK
Date: 28 May - 25 June 2022
Time: Wed to Sun, 11am to 6pm
Venue: Bloc Projects' meanwhile space, 1/F, 12 Matilda St, Sheffield City Center, Sheffield, S1 4PF, UK

**Artist Sharing by Fredie CHAN Ho Lun**:
5 - 8 pm, (Thur) 9 June, 2022
Bloc Projects, 71 Eyre Lane, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield, S1 4RB, UK
Topic: About Hong Kong and Artistic Freedom
Fredie CHAN, a documentary film maker from Hong Kong, will talk about artistic freedom in Hong Kong and share related video works during the talk.
Please click HERE to Register for the sharing session
(FREE ADMISSION)/ (Bring your own drink)

Background:

Under the National Security Law(NSL), Hong Kong artists face the most restrictive censorship ever and lose their artistic freedom within the Hong Kong territory. After the violent suppression of the anti-extradition law movement in 2019, Hong Kong police and judicial departments continued to arrest and accuse protesters until today. NSL was inserted directly into Hong Kong’s constitution by the Chinese Community Party (CCP) in June 2020 without going through any local legislation process. More and more activists and politicians from the democratic camp have been prosecuted since then. For example, Hong Kong democrats were arrested for their participation in the primaries for the democratic camp in the Legislative Council Election in July 2020. On July 22nd, 2021, 5 members of The General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists were arrested for publishing a children’s picture book about how a sheep community protected its village from wolves, which subtly reflected the political situation of Hong Kong. Under serious political pressure, many civil organisations in Hong Kong disbanded and dissolved, including the Professional Teachers’ Union which was the largest teachers’ union, the Civil Human Rights Front etc. Hong Kong Arts Development Council also stopped funding art organisations that produced projects critiquing government policies or documentaries about Hong Kong social movements.

Hong Kong's civic society has gone backward rapidly in the past two years and is now far behind any international standard for human rights and freedom of expression. More ridiculously, the censorship red line that threatens all Hongkongers has been extended to all over the world under the NSL. Hongkongers who relocate to overseas still hesitate to express their critical opinions toward Hong Kong or CCP's government policies, because such expression may cause the failure for their safe return to their hometown, Hong Kong, and also because CCP has implemented many CCP supporters all over the world to harass activists who uphold critical opinions toward CCP's rule.

Exhibition Concept:

The current project 'The 24901-mile-wide Red Line' Art Exhibition is a critical response to the global censorship red line set by CCP. 24901 mile is the equatorial circumference of the earth. The 24901-mile-wide Red Line is full of CCP's characteristics, which is about applying CCP's rules and standards to everyone in the world. Hong Kong NSL is one of such examples. The NSL red line is as wide as the earth, so that anyone anywhere critiquing CCP's rule in Hong Kong would violate NSL and become the wanted figure by the Hong Kong National Security Department. CCP attempts to make use of its 24901-mile-wide red line to construct the white terror for those who care about Hong Kong.

As diaspora artists from Hong Kong, C & G bear the responsibility to keep defending freedom of expression for Hong Kong artists and Hongkongers. It is important for artists who have been making political and critical artworks to be able to continue their artistic practices. The development of art and culture requires an open-minded society with diversity. We believe the only way to de-construct the white terror, is to craft out critical and safe spaces for freedom of expression. Facing the current disaster of the white terror, C & G will take the initiative to help Hong Kong artists maintain their proactive artistic positions. When more people are able to speak up to express their political opinions, more will be encouraged to think and express critically which will in turn burst the white terror.

C & G also aim to connect Hong Kong artists with artists from other South-East Asian countries who experience the same censorship struggles, because we believe solidarity will strengthen all of us in this fight for freedom and human rights against the authoritarian regimes. No matter if the styles of the exhibiting artworks are more sensational or rational, these artistic voices will demonstrate the importance to maintain one's artistic freedom and critical thinking mindset in any circumstances. Indeed, it is the basic human right for one to express one’s dissent toward one’s government.

During the project, we also encourage the public in the UK to petition at the UK parliament's website to ask the UK government to urge Hong Kong to release all political prisoners: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/601971