Off Your Trolley
‘Everything is connected with everyone, always.’
This project followed from a year spent living in Hong Kong – a period which coincided with major local unrest. Arriving home in Melbourne, he used the ubiquitous Hong Kong pushcarts as a ‘representation’ of his time there.
In these hand trolleys, a metaphor is posited. The tangled binding across the handlebars pertains to the chaos of nature and messiness of human existence; whilst the grid pattern on the tray suggests an opposing dynamic of structure and order. (The metaphor can be applied to the complicated political situation of Hong Kong but, equally, to the human condition in general).
Rather than overly inject his own subjectivity, Chris has endeavoured to represent the multiplicities involved – not only the peculiar sphere of eastern/western influences on this ‘Semi-Autonomous Region’, but the broader universal notion of entanglements within us all.
The above citation is a paraphrasing of philosopher Rosie Braidotti (2013) by theorist Jasmine Ulmer (2017).
Ulmer, Jasmine B. 2017. ‘Posthumanism as Research Methodology: Inquiry in the Anthropocene.’ International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 30, no. 9. 832-848.
Braidotti, Rosi. 2013. The Posthuman. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Examples of Hong Kong trolleys with improvised binding over the handlebars and grid pattern on the tray.
Chris’ versions of a Hong Kong trolley.
Channelling the spirit in which Hong Kongers customise their pushcarts, a conscious effort was made to take a bricolage approach using only found or existing material. The binding is mostly discarded construction material from a Melbourne tollway.
The grid on the tray was formed from a random mix of photos (mostly by the artist) representing various aspects of HK – Chinese heritage; British influence; expat activities; unique HK traits; evidence of political unrest; prosaic but wonderful daily sights (eg: colourful laundry hung from windows, art-installation-like stacks of water bottles on the sidewalk).
To blend the various elements, the binding of the two trolleys was connected.
The binding dangled over the photos, implying multitudinous connections.
The deconstructed version.
After photographing the handcarts, the grids and binding were ripped off. This deconstructed, in-between state – with only fragments of images – evoked a certain poignancy. One of the trolleys was photographed again, the lone pushcart appearing quite fragile in the space.
