It’s Art (& Crafts)!

Oct 19 2019

Ed. note: I am leaving up the credited versions for as long as their source (social media account, corporate link etc.) keeps them up. If they get deleted, I will also censor out their artist credit.

We’ve explored paintings etc that hv bn created by HKers & friends. Explored less is all the other places where protest art has bloomed - cakes, needlework, chainmail-making… they’re now all part of our resistance.

There’s resistance cake-making. There are cakes of hard hats & teargas. There are cakes of our geared-up protesters. Of the pig from LIHKG (think HK’s reddit) shouting revolutionary slogans. Of Lennon walls, and Lion rock, all plastered w/ HKers’ hopes and dreams.

Their entire IG is worth browsing thru, as you can see a progression of what HKers cared abt b4 the mvmt (toys! balloons! gd alchohol!), to what we care abt now (suffrage! a sturdy hard hat! gd alcohol!).

There’s resistance mooncake-making. These blocks of lard & sugar are a staple for Mid-Autumn Festival; there’s history here - Yuan revolutionaries hid msgs inside these to avoid arrests. HK bakeries are more fearless, & have adorned these with ‘HKers Add Oil’ & ‘Freedom C*nt’

Still on Mid-Autumn Festival, there’s resistance lantern-making. Lanterns I had growing up were inflatable plastic toys you buy on the cheap. Now, our crafters are using traditional methods to make hard-hat shaped lanterns, & ones emblazoned with our mvmt’s slogans.

There’s resistance crocheting. Our little crocheted frontliner even has a removable hard hat, goggles and gas mask, and can sometimes be found on our marches Smiling face with smiling eyes. To follow their adventures, see link below!

There’s also resistance embroidery. The iconography shld be familiar - we hv the eye, staring w/ intensity, referring to those HKPF hv blinded. We hv the Bauhinia, almost translucent, hanging precariously on its stem…

Last, but certainly not least, there’s…. checks notes revolutionary chainmail-making!? This makes the Black Bauhinia look 10x more badass than it already did.

This is all lovely and sweet, but the takeaways are important:

1) For those who think ‘it’s just the poor rioting’ in HK, our art says no. Buying a custom cake is not affordable for all. Nor is spending time on crafting. HK’s pro-democracy mvmt has broad-based support.

2) If you hv time to scroll thru IG accts I’ve linked to, you’ll see that b4 the mvmt, HKers’ concerns are similar to those of ppl abroad. We all hv our hobbies & regular lives, and then everything chged. Some resist w/ fire. Some resist w/ art. But we all resist, together.

##Update, Jan 12 2020

More protest embroidery!

And also… what seems to be a LinPig woodwork music box? 😅🤷‍♀️ HKers’ creativity is boundless!

And also more food stuff 🤤🤤🤤