#ppl_chill_dd | Nam Cheong Street Sitting-out Area (No.5) | 6-21/3/2021

Sandwiched between two bustling thoroughfares through the centre of SSP, the 750-metre-long strip-shaped Nam Cheong Street Sitting-out Area is not only part of the daily route of residents and visitors. It has also evolved into a community hub where people of different ethnicities and nationalities hang out. Inspired by the inclusivity and multiculturalism of SSP, our designers and community collaborators created two sets of #ppl_chill_dd installations in the part of the sitting-out area on Tai Nan Street, providing a real life chatroom to residents and visitors alike.

Graphic designer and sign-painter Katol hand-painted a collection of expressions in different languages, featuring Chinese calligraphy by artist Chan Oi Ying. Some are greetings, some conversation starters and some gentle reminders. Scan the QR codes on the work and you can watch the music videos featuring local residents from different backgrounds singing the popular songs of their cultures. The work adds fun to community exchanges and makes the friendly and convivial vibe of the place visible and audible.

Rex Koo, a visual artist deeply influenced by 80s HK pop culture, whose Strange Tales of Walled City won the bronze award of the 14th Japan International Manga Award, designed a series of Simple People colour-block figures. Started as 2D geometric portraits, the SSP_People edition of Simple People has transformed into multidimensional figures. The featured figures are all deeply related to SSP as well as representatives of the Lingnan culture. Their relationships with the neighbourhood demonstrate fascinating cultural extension and confluence. From legendary international action star Bruce Lee to era-defining creative James Wong, how many of them can you identify?

To engage SSP residents in the project and to make their own community a better place, our creative team invites SSP residents apprenticed with Mr Au Yeung Ping-chi, the second generation of Bo Wah Effigies which has stood in SSP for more than half a century, to learn traditional lantern-making. Local residents were also invited to get hands-on and participate in making lanterns. They used bamboo sticks to make the frames and hand-sewed deadstock fabrics and fabric remnants collected from textile shops together to make patchwork lanterns which are now exhibited in the park. After the exhibition ends, residents will be invited to take the lanterns home.

Here to discover more featured works of SSP_People!