Hong Kong Human Rights Art Exhibitions Open in the Hague Prior to NATO Summit
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Ahead of a NATO summit that will convene in the Hague in the Netherlands June 24–25, two Hong Kong human rights art exhibitions were unveiled in the city to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the Hong Kong anti-extradition protests and to highlight the theme of a “world in crisis.”
The exhibitions include “Humanity in Times of Tension,” curated by the Hong Kong human rights art organization NGO Dei and the nonprofit Human Rights in the Picture, in collaboration with The Hague Humanity Hub and venue partner Amare, and “The Freedom That I Breathe” exhibition held at NGO Dei’s gallery.
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For this event, a Hong Kong overseas art organization curated an exhibition in the host city of the NATO Summit for the first time. The mayor of the Hague, Jan van Zanen, also delivered a speech at the exhibition, which was supported by the Hague city government, the Just Peace Festival, Leiden University, and other human rights organizations.
The exhibition is divided into seven thematic categories, covering wide-ranging topics in justice, peace, freedom, memory, identity, land, and war. The participating artists come from Ukraine, Burma (also known as Myanmar), South Africa, Congo, the United States, Greece, and other nations, showing diverse perspectives. Many overseas Hong Kong artists were also invited to participate, including artist couple Lumli Lumlong, Missy Hyper, VA Wong Sir, and Ricker Choi.
Jens Galschiot—sculptor of the “Pillar of Shame” artwork that commemorated the Tiananmen Square Massacre and was forcibly removed from the University of Hong Kong in 2021—also participated in the exhibition with his work “Stand with Hong Kong.” In the exhibition, Lumli Lumlong highlighted the fragile balance between freedom and peace with their new work “The Virgin and Child (Lullaby),” which encourages the audience to reflect on the risk of World War III from the intertwined perspectives of religion and war.
Missy Hyper, whose real name is Juanita Cheng Mun-ni, worked in radio stations in Hong Kong for more than 20 years. She moved to Taiwan after the anti-extradition movement.
In the exhibition, she used 366 images of the Taiwan Strait taken by herself, combined with sounds from the surroundings, to create an atmosphere of freedom that is invisible but present every day. She then combined all of them into her work “The Freedom That I Breathe.”
In another work, “Soundless Wind Chimes,” she invites the audience to draw their imaginations of democracy and freedom and collage them into paper wind chimes to symbolize cross-cultural resonance.
