Umbrella Movement Photographic Project Published

Photography Senior Lecturer Dinu Li has had his photographic project - We Write Our Own History - featured in Vostok, a South Korean arts magazine.

Dinu tells us what inspired his work: "In September 2014, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Hong Kong, united in their act of civil disobedience. Mobilised by activists, ordinary citizens organised themselves in mass sit-ins and rallies, demanding their rights to genuine universal suffrage.

"Protests went on for months, yet like so many demonstrations throughout history, this momentous event finally gave way to police intervention. The episode was named the Umbrella Movement, when tear gas, batons and pepper spray were used to repel the masses; whilst people struggled to protect themselves with umbrellas.

We Write Our Own History is an attempt to piece together some of the incidences that took place in the streets of Hong Kong during the Umbrella Movement.

"Presented as individual tapestries, the set of colour photographs are staged and made possible through the re-telling and participation of those who witnessed the event from their high-rise apartments. Their interior private spaces used to create a semblance of public realities.

"What at first may seemingly appear nonsensical, are in fact types of cartographic studies - using personal items such as rolled up tissue balls to suggest a stand-off; a bundle of matchsticks to imitate DIY barricades; a plastic tube propped next to an air-con remote control to best describe a collision. Each set-up therefore, not only reveals intense pivotal moments back in 2014, but also a way to assemble one's own sense of place in history."

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BA(Hons) Photography