shashasha

“Bardo Hong Kong 2019” by Hong Kong photojournalist Kan Tai Wong is a photographic journal of Hong Kong’s biggest social protests, the anti-extradition bill movement. Shot on black-and-white film using outdated camera gear, Kan Tai Wong followed the protests from within during the long, hot summer of 2019.

“The protests continued into late autumn. In view of the police’s surging use of tear gas bombs and their ever-changing toxic content, I had to replace my single-filter gas mask with a more powerful one — the 3M2091 double-filter model. Fear and anger engulfed the streets, be it day or night. Very often, before going out, I couldn’t help but set eyes on my sleeping place, wondering when I could return home to take a decent nap” (excerpt from Kan Tai Wong’s afterword).

His photographs – brilliantly shot and visually impactful – capture one of the largest (and perhaps last) protests by local Hongkongers, with up to a million people protesting at times.

“Bardo” is a Buddhist word referring to a transitory state of existence after one life has ended and before the next has begun.

Kan Tai Wong’s previous works include “’89 Tiananmen” and “Xinjiang 1980”.