Foreign Presence

The narrative starts from the venue itself – the street after which Duddell’s was named (and the 19th century auctioneer after which the street was named) has particular significance for the longstanding history of foreign presence and of complicated attempts to adapt, to resist, to accept or to localize the former British colony by a never entirely local population. As a very successful auctioneer of cargo ships and real estate, George Duddell owned properties that included the city's fridge, known as the Ice House, as well as the first ever opium monopoly, a commodity that lay at the foundation of the colony. Duddell's emblematic figure for the early foreign investment in Hong Kong was a precursor to the changing but continuous flow of such investments, which continue to this day. Curated by Inti Guerrero, the works presented in this hanging include two 19th century panoramic photographs taken by Felice Beato, during the French and the British fleet's presence, of Victoria Harbour during the Second Opium War (Courtesy of Getty Institute); a triptych by Hong Kong-based artist Leung Chi Wo on the local resistance to the Japanese occupation during WWII; a neon text piece by Paris based collective Claire Fontaine, on a universal anxiety towards foreigners; and a 1962 Harper Bazaar fashion shoot in Hong Kong, marking a recurring pattern of consumerist culture in the city.