Our first guest writer — Michelle Chan

As a bright start to welcoming 2021, not only are we having a new member joining us for the collective (soon to disclose!) but also collaborating with Michelle Chan as guest writer for juicing up our blog!

Michelle is a visual storyteller. Her works are often themed around Chinese mythology, folk religion and philosophy with reference to everyday objects and experiences, through narrated stories that play along the fine line between fact and fiction. Her work has been exhibited in some of the major places in Hong Kong such as Hong Kong Arts Centre and Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, and internationally including Arles, Beijing, Berlin, Budapest, Dublin, Siem Reap, Taipei and Toronto etc.

She founded photobook club, a space for bringing people together to have conversations and discussions about photography, and is about to launch a corresponding podcast which is a broadcasting channel for hosting such conversations with artists and photographers.

Currently, she’s working on a project about her late uncle who was a bus driver and his obsessions with buses. Part One is about an internal exploration of questioning the meaning of death, disappearance, and loss. It also represents her condolences and regards for his death. You can learn more about the work from this documentary film:

Right now, she’s focusing on Part Two of the project, which is about his uncle’s model bus collection in relation to the history of HK territory. It talks about the sense of disappearance and loss on a greater scale, in the context of Hong Kong under British rule. Feel free to follow the work here.

When she is not making images, she writes about photography — from philosophy to studying the works of others. It became a ritual for her as a way to learn more about photography as well as connecting with artists and photographers around the world.

We are very excited to have her to add to this community we are building, a place to discuss and share freely between us, a place of support without pressure, a place to grow together and a place to give back.

Stay tuned for our upcoming articles!