Back to the Future
The theme of this work is memories of school life and the uniforms of secondary school students in Hong Kong.
For most students in Hong Kong, wearing school uniforms is a cherished part of their culture. It is a tradition that dates back many years and is widely respected by the community.
After discussing the theme of their creation, contemporary artisan Jacky Lam crafted the outer frame of the table screen with different types of local wood. The exterior was decorated with different lacquering techniques. Contemporary artisan Fanson Lam created the clay sculpture as the foundation, whereas Jacky made use of the bodiless lacquer technique and improved it to craft the sculpture.
Fanson Lam presented the school uniforms in qipao style in the form of a freestanding sculpture, breaking away from the plain form of the relief, whereas adding a man and a woman wearing different school uniforms. In this way, the contrast between the plain form of relief and the three-dimensional freestanding sculpting technique is used to convey the “ancient meaning” and the “new tradition” and to anticipate the future through the three-dimensional and freestanding body.
Fanson Lam used “school uniform”, “student”, “screen”, and “turn” as the themes of his sculptures to illustrate his understanding of “memory”. The work incorporates a table screen made of Acacia confusa by contemporary artisan Jacky Lam. He also created other contemporary everyday objects with the bodiless lacquer technique, a traditional lacquerware-making technique used for statues of gods and Buddha. Jacky hopes to recollect his memories of the time, people, places and things in Hong Kong through this work.
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