2013
Hong Kong
archival print/dibond/white frame
48-74.8 inches, (edition 5 + 2 a.p.)

Happy Valley is an affluent residential district in Hong Kong, once known as Wong Nai Chung Valley. The area is anchored by the Happy Valley Racecourse, an open oval set within a dense fabric of towers. The green of the racetrack reflects in the windows of the buildings along Wong Nai Chung Road, giving the façades a soft, almost artificial glow. In Chinese culture green is the colour of money and prosperity, and in these reflections that symbolism seems to resonate quietly, as if the city were mirroring its own desires.

Yet the place also carries a shadow. In 1918 a fire at the racecourse claimed at least 590 lives. A temporary grandstand collapsed, food stalls were overturned, bamboo matting caught fire and within minutes a festive crowd was transformed into a chaotic flight. The echo of that event is not visible today, but it remains as a thin layer beneath the surface. Between the reflections of green and glass emerges an awareness that every place, no matter how prosperous, contains its own undercurrent of fragility.