Echoes: China & Hong Kong Opening at The Portico Library

Echoes invites audiences to engage with the collection of the Portico Library and the communities who are reclaiming the colonial narrative written and illustrated in the Library’s books. The exhibition seeks to navigate Britain’s complex colonial relations with China and Hong Kong, by centering the voices of the five Critical Friends who have co-created the exhibition. Bruce Lai, Deborah Ng, Jasmine Gardner, Jessie Tam, and Yichao Shi reflect on and distill their responses to the historic collection. Their ‘reading’ of the collection delves into retention and adaptation of identity, place and purpose, particularly through language, landscape, and calendar customs such as Lunar New Year celebrations.