About the project

Wan Chai is the cradle of Hong Kong’s animation and comics (ani-com) industry, with many local ani-com artists started their career here. It is also the home of Hong Kong’s first art community featuring ani-com – Comix Home Base.

This autumn, Hong Kong Arts Centre and Comix Home Base present Comixtream in the City – Wan Chai, a project that transforms the district’s public spaces into exciting ani-com encounters. Eight local veteran and upcoming ani-com artists collaborate to bring comics art to four distinctive locations, forming a comics cluster that celebrates Wan Chai’s past, present and imagines its future, also promoting Wan Chai as an ani-com landmark in Hong Kong.

Surrounding the now revitalised heritage Comix Home Base are five lampposts decorated by local designer and illustrator Bo Law, whose work personify the tranquil neighbourhood of Sun, Moon and Star Streets as an old angler overlooking Wan Chai’s vibrant streets and waterfront. North to them, comics artists Jerry Cho, Mandycat and Bonnie Pang have transformed Southorn Playground into a comic showcase of Wan Chai’s street scenes and everyday life.

Along Gloucester Road, comics artist Justin Wong has worked together with Dolly Lee to bring the area’s diverse cityscape – from the historical tramway and traditional teahouses to the modern architecture such as Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre – to the East entrance of the Revenue Tower. Six distinctive scenes of Wan Chai, connected by the tramway, are featured above the entrance to show the change of landscape from Wan Chai South to Wan Chai North.

On an exterior wall outside the building of Hong Kong Arts Centre, local comics veterans Alice Mak and Keung Chi Kit envision a green “Wan Chai Hill” in their collaborative work. Their famous comics characters, McDull and Samba, are having a cheerful stroll on the Hill.

Comixtream in the City – Wan Chai, not only serves as a public platform for local comics artists to gain exposure to local and international audience, but also acts as a unique community and outreach project. A series of workshops will be held to engage diverse communities and strengthen the exchanges among ani-com artists, different social groups and the general public, raising awareness of public art and bringing comics into the city’s daily lives.

Locations of public artwork:
1.      Comix Home Base (5 neighbouring lampposts) (On display till July 2018)
2.      Southorn Playground (Entrance and one of the interior walls) (On display till Mar 2019)
3.      Revenue Tower (East entrance on the Ground Floor)(On display till July 2018)
4.      Hong Kong Arts Centre (Exterior wall facing Gloucester Road) (On display till July 2018)

About the artist

Alice Mak

Graduated from the School of Design at the Polytechnic University. She started her creative journey by launching her first illustration work, “Belinda’s Blanket”, written by the renowned children writer Margaret WILD. She later co-created the McMug series with Brian TSE and published “Fairy Tales for the Adults”, started a children’s magazine Yellow Bus Magazine. Her accumulated publications are more than 200 pieces; many of them were translated and published overseas, e.g. mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea, France. Alice is also the art director of Mcdull feature series, which has gained popularity and award recognition.

Keung Chi Kit

Having taken illustration courses, Chi Kit received the rising star award from local comics publisher Rightman in 1999. Since then, he has published various works in Co-co! Magazine. Known for his humorous style, Chi Kit is one of Hong Kong’s most popular artists for children’s comics. His Samba stories have been serialized for more than ten years and published in both Mainland China and Singapore. In 2016, Samba became the newest character to join Hong Kong Avenue of Comic Stars.

Justin Wong

Justin Wong is a comics writer and media artist. He received his BA (Fine Arts) from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1996 and his MA from Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication in London. Upon his return to Hong Kong in 2004, he taught in City University of Hong Kong and worked in an interactive media design company. In 2007, he started his political comic column Gei Gei Gaak Gaak on Ming Pao Daily News. He currently works as artistic director of a new media art group and Assistant Professor in the Academy of Visual Arts in Hong Kong Baptist University.

Dolly Lee

Dolly was born in the late 1980s. She graduated from Hong Kong Baptist University with major in Digital Graphic Communication and minor in Visual Arts. She started drawing comics since secondary school and published works annually with local comics group “Shineland”. She has been a full-time animator for 5 years and works as game art director and comics artist on several platforms.

Mandycat

Mandycat graduated from Hong Kong Baptist University with a degree in Public Relations & Adverstising. She had worked for various magazines in Hong Kong. Since 2000, her comics and columns have appeared on different media platforms. Cats, love, relationships, office life and silly things are Mandycat’s favourite topics. In 2015, she attended the Angoulême International Comics Festival in France.

Jerry Cho

Local comics veteran Jerry Cho joined the industry in the 1990s, serving major comics publishing companies such as Culturecom, Jonesky Limited, and Jade Dynasty Limited. He edited works such as Spirit Weekly, Love Cycle, Journal of the Vampire Hunter, Biohazard 3, The Wicked, Amazing Weapons F, Dead Space, and Killer. In 2013, Cho’s work Killer was awarded The Best Comics of the Year and The Best Actor by the magazine Ani-wave, according to the result of one man one vote. In 2014, he received the Macau Golden Lotus Award and The Best Comics Adaption from Fiction Award. In 2015, he was selected as one of The 10 Best Hong Kong Comics Artists.

Bonnie Pang

In 2012 Bonnie graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in Geography, then in 2016 obtained a Master in Fine Arts (Illustration) at The Academy of Art University, San Francisco, USA. After working as an animation concept artist, she pursued her interests in comics and book illustrations. In 2015, her heart-warming webcomic “Roar Street Journal” won third place in Line Webtoon’s international contest. Bonnie is currently a full-time comic artist and children’s book illustrator.

Bo Law

Bo Law is a Hong Kong-based freelance designer and illustrator. He is always inspired by the living environment around him and his paintings often feature the cityscape of Hong Kong. In 2013, Law participated in Fukutake House exhibition at Setouchi Triennale. In 2016, his work was included in the “Comixhibition and the City” project at Hong Kong International Airport. In the same year, he presented an Augmented Reality (AR) supplemented interactive exhibition “LONG TIME NO SEE: A Virtual Encounter with Neighbourly Nostalgia” in PMQ.