Kacey Wong discusses his choice to self-exile after the 2019 Hong Kong protests.
“My way of thinking is that there is another Kacey Wong in Hong Kong, and he got intercepted at the airport, he got captured and he turned silent…what can I do out of Hong Kong to speak for him?” Kacey Wong, an activist and artist, speaks from his home in Taiwan, self-exiled after the 2019 protests. Behind him a proud standing replica of Lady Liberty perches on his desk, an emblem of freedom.
Now a two hour flight from Hong Kong, Kacey will never return, “my Hong Kong is over, it is gone. It no longer exists. Of course, the physical (parts are still there) like the harbour, the high rises, and it looks beautiful”. He continues, “I try to encourage myself to focus on what I gain… Because what I treasure the most is freedom of artistic expression”.
The 2019 protests sparked a wave of significant changes that forever changed the fabric of Hong Kong. In Central, black clad protesters faced off with police, the tactic of ‘be water’ saw them disperse quickly through winding streets. Ordinary people came out in millions to march from Victoria Park to Government Headquarters. Across Hong Kong, students had clashes with police in MTR stations, then rallied together at university halls. Everywhere unturned bricks lined the streets, bamboo scaffolding lay across major roads halt traffic. The echoes of the chant, “Hong Kong, add oil” were heard ringing into the morning. Umbrellas had become the shields of the people. It was the ‘Revolution of Our Times’.
Now, Kacey, who is decorated with degrees and doctorates from prestigious universities, finds artistic freedom to create in Taiwan. For him,
“The fate of Taiwan and the fate of Hong Kong are like switching identity or switching of destiny.”
After the handover in 1997, Hong Kong was to be a free democratic society. However, Freedom House, in the their annual report on political rights and civil liberties, reported that, “political rights and civil liberties, has dropped by 24 points, from 67 to 43”. They state that Hong Kong is ‘partly free’. In comparison, Taiwan scores 94/100, it is ‘free’.
Kacey decided to self-exile as, “the political suppression from the Chinese Communist Party became more and more obvious and stronger after the revolution of 2019”. The passing of the national security law in 2020 meant he no longer felt safe to make art. He had also actively participated in “many arts and protest related activities during this period of time”, but since then has noted that the “law and order of Hong Kong had structurally changed”.
For the people that stayed behind, Kacey remarks that, “I think a lot of Hong Kongers are adapting as well as enduring” and “those who hard core disagree with the Chinese Communist Party just pull out and migrate.”
The threat to artistic freedom has seen other artists from Hong Kong flee their home country in the hopes of producing work that is free and reflective of their environment. In 2020, Taiwan pledged to ‘help fleeing Hong Kongers’ and offers help from employment to counselling. Kacey has felt welcomed by the Taiwanese people.
However, even exiles who have cut ties from Hong Kong and have fled from home, still worry about the threat of the Chinese Communist Party, “it’s not like, oh, your physical body has left Hong Kong, then you’re out of jail and in a totally free zone, that is not true.” Kacey continues, “that can be seen through the $1m dollar bounty of the activist from Hong Kong”.
The Hong Kong authorities issued a HKD $1 million (£102, 663) bounty on six overseas pro-democracy activists. One of these activists and member of The Committee for Freedom of Hong Kong Foundation is Chloe Cheung, who is 19 and currently lives in the UK. This was down to her pro-democracy activities, working to divide Hong Kong from China and lobbying other countries to “impose sanctions or blockade”.
On discussing this, Chloe remarks “I feel worried, and I hoped I could get more support from the UK government.” Only the police have reached out to offer their support if required. However, this threat gives her “more confidence to do advocacy for Hong Kong because through the bounty, I realised that it means that the government are scared of me, and it actually proves that I am doing the right thing.”
“So, I am worried for my safety, personally, but it gives me more confidence that I am doing the right thing against the authorities.”
Kacey often uses his art internally, as a form of self-expression, and externally as a way of holding conversations with others. The Lennon Walls that sprang up around the city, all donned thousands of colourful post it notes, containing pictures, poems, words of solidarity and rallies for democracy was a way for protesters to communicate with each other freely through art. Kacey remarks, “I think countless number of people including children did drawings and put them up on the Lennon Wall, as well as social media… a little poster here and there, and circulated them. It takes a snowball effect.” He states that art and protest, “naturally intertwine”.
These walls took inspiration from the Lennon Wall in Prague that was created in the 80s by an unknown artist to mark the death of the famous Beatle.
Kacey continues, “I think art is a powerful tool for everyone to use to advocate and to express themselves. Political cartoons for example, are about communication, advocacy of certain ideas for democracy, for freedom, to resist”.
From Moses to Spartan to an old man with a cane, Kacey played around with his image when attending mass protests. Early in his time as an artist, his body and face were always visible in his work, but as time went on, he felt the need to cover more of himself, a physical embodiment of Hong Kong heading away from democracy. “The masking of identity becomes important if your society becomes more authoritarian or even fascist”. He continues, in a democratic society, “you can just go out in jeans and say no to the government”.
Though in Taiwan, Kacey’s art is mostly centred around Hong Kong resistance, he doesn’t “want to live in a vacuum or in the past”. Kacey believes his new home is an open space for him and like-minded individuals to create.
Even though Hong Kong still has numerous art galleries and is due to host its annual international art fair, Art Basel in 2025, Kacey argues that artists “deploy their creativity around the red zones… red lines”. However, he continues, that this is “not to say art is finished in Hong Kong. Some interesting art has been made around this red line”.
Art Basel HK 2024 was reportedly awarded HKD$15 million from the arts and cultural fund, however, funding now comes with a clause pertaining to national security.
Jannet Marstine writes in her book, Curating Under Pressure, that “practitioners in China and Hong Kong have developed a diverse tool kit of strategies and tactics to resist censorship and self-censorship’, including using coded language – such as ingenious euphemisms, memes and homophones – to evade detection.”
Kacey discusses making art without freedom of expression, “art with or without the political situations is already coded. That means it’s an abstract representation”, Kacey continues, “even a figurative painting is coded sometimes. Like by colours or secret messages.”
With regards to keeping the faith in the fight for freedom, Chloe Cheung says, “It is really hard for us to expect that there might be another wave of pro-democracy movements, but I feel like we should have hope, and we should keep fighting until we have a free Hong Kong.”
Now, Kacey connects with his homeland through attending protests and supporting Hong Kongers from afar. His new exhibition, curated by himself, will feature letters and drawings done by prisoners in Hong Kong who were jailed for pro-democracy activities. Kacey remarks that, “they write their letters and then on the back and they draw a picture.”
He continues, “So for me, that is very, very meaningful, because they cannot say it. They cannot, they wanted to 100 times, but they could not. The price to pay is just too high. I am proud I can take part in that. So, this is how I connect to Hong Kong”.
