Resurfacing Southeast Asia in Hong Kong photo periodicals

By the 1950s, Hong Kong was already seen as the kingdom of salon photography 沙龙摄影 (or Pictorialism). It was a recognition that was widely accepted by the salon photographers in Southeast Asia, especially those of Chinese ethnicity.

There are various reasons for Hong Kong’s eminence in the praxis of salon photography; one reason was that, since 1950, the colonial city published several Chinese-language photo periodicals, which were very popular across Southeast Asia. Revisiting the faded pages of these periodicals today, what were the images of Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and the People’s Republic of China that they once circulated to the readers across the region? How did the processes of nation-building and Cold War affect the production and circulation of these photo periodicals and the photographs that they once hosted on their printed pages? This sharing session addresses these questions and resurfaces the connection between Southeast Asia and Hong Kong in co-producing the national and Sinophone cultures across the region.

About the speaker

Zhuang Wubin is a writer who makes photographs, publications and exhibitions. His previous monograph, Photography in Southeast Asia: A Survey, is published by NUS Press in 2016. He is currently hosted by CREAM, University of Westminster, for the British Academy Visiting Fellowship 2025. 

Registration

This event free, open to the public, and held in person only. If you would like to attend, please register using the link above.

• Organiser: SOAS Centre of South East Asian Studies, SOAS School of Arts, and SOAS South East Asia Seminar Series
• Contact email: centres@soas.ac.uk 

Image credit: Copies of World Photography from the 1950s, courtesy Ha Bik Chuen Archive, Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong