HONG KONG.- Tai Kwun is presenting "DigiRadiance: GOLD_LEAD_WOOD_COAL", an immersive digital exhibition on view from 2 to 30 November 2024 in F Hall Studio. Featuring a newly commissioned multi-channel video installation produced by the acclaimed Aotearoa/New Zealand artist Lisa Reihana, this exhibition, curated by Tobias Berger, brings together the far-flung islands of Aotearoa/New Zealand and Hong Kong. Based on the moving yet tragic story of the sinking of SS Ventnor, the video immerses audiences in an extraordinary fictional funeral procession from New Zealand to Hong Kong. The artist’s work draws on what is shared by these islands, including a strong maritime legacy and a history shaped by colonial forces—in a way following her distinctive blend of history and fiction in her large-scale video installation, in Pursuit of Venus [infected] (2015- 17), when she represented New Zealand in the 2017 Venice Biennale.

In "DigiRadiance: GOLD_LEAD_WOOD_COAL", Lisa Reihana explores issues surrounding foreign labour, longing, and displacement. The work takes us back to the late 1800s, shining light on the untold stories of Chinese gold miners who relocated to the Otago region on the South Island of New Zealand. Under tremendous hardship and severe living conditions, many died far away from their homeland and became “hungry ghosts”. Delving into this important part of history, Reihana revisits the story of the SS Ventnor, which in 1902 was en route to Hong Kong and Canton carrying coal and 500 boxes with the remains of the Chinese gold miners. During a storm, the ship sank close to a Māori settlement south of Hokianga on the North Island of New Zealand, where the Māori found and gathered the lost remains and buried them ceremonially according to their customs.

Taking this historic tragedy as a starting point, Reihana weaves a speculative tale for "DigiRadiance: GOLD_LEAD_WOOD_COAL". To tell the story, the artist uses impressionistic, theatrical imagery with first-person narration to reveal snippets of the saga, offering up four fictional characters: a Chinese merchant, a Maori Whine Wahine from Mitimiti who finds the bones on her beach, a female inmate incarcerated at Victoria Prison for stealing bread, and an Indian prison guard.

Tobias Berger, the curator of the exhibition, says, “Having a new commission by Lisa Reihana—and bringing together Aotearoa/New Zealand and Hong Kong at Tai Kwun with such a sensitive and engaging installation—is a great chance to reflect on how Tai Kwun and Hong Kong’s history is deeply interwoven with the global Chinese diaspora. This new artwork reflects how often personal, tragic histories are kept untold, and how individual sacrifices become part of a larger narrative.”

Lisa Reihana comments, “With GOLD_LEAD_WOOD_COAL, I wanted to make a connection between the islands of my home in Aotearoa/New Zealand and the islands of South China—and this was through our trade routes. In the work, I share a lesser known story about SS Ventnor which tragically sunk on its way to Hong Kong. Māori communities then collected and cared for the lost souls washing upon our shores. This idea of humanity and care is infused throughout this immersive video work, expressed through the Matron who attends to the female Prisoner in Victoria Gaol; the Merchant who supports the Cantonese Gold Miners; and in turn, how they worked collectively and cared for each other. I trust GOLD_LEAD_WOOD_COAL renews these connections.”

GOLD_LEAD_WOOD_COAL is the second commission of DigiRadiance, a digital heritage programme transforming the F Hall Studio into an immersive project space. The ongoing project aims to reimagine and reinterpret the site’s historical buildings in a digital context, bringing visitors back in time in order to develop a deeper relationship with the buildings, and continue to value and treasure Tai Kwun. Last year, the inaugural exhibition used the radial plan prison of Victoria Gaol as a point of departure to revisit Tai Kwun’s prison history and its significance. This year, the project goes farther afield, seeking Hong Kong’s heritage beyond the city’s shores.

Born in 1964, in Aotearoa/New Zealand, and of Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Hine, Ngāi Tūteauru, and Ngāi Tūpoto descent, Lisa Reihana’s works mainly focus on colonialism and the representation of ethnic and gender minorities in various media. As a multidisciplinary artist, producer, and networker, her practice influenced the development of contemporary art and contemporary Māori art in her hometown. As part of a series of seminal exhibitions, she carved out a space in the visual arts for an expanded representation of Māori identity and self-expression.