John Young: The Macau Days@10 Chancery Lane Gallery

On 6th October, I visited a very impressive exhibition, John Young: The Macau Days. It was exhibited at the 10 Chancery Lane Gallery in Central.

The Gallery was situated in between a bunch of old buildings, which made this new and bright little house very eye-catching. I was attracted by the simple yet comfortable outlook of it. There was a black-and-white portrait of the artist, John Young, placed at the center of the display window, then nothing else. I do love this simple and clear placement of the whole outlook of this little house.

After I have gone inside the gallery, this art piece is the very first one that caught my eyes.

It is called The Macau Days, which is used to be the name of the exhibition also. It contains 15 works in the art piece: 8 of them are photographs, and 7 of them are only with words on it. The photos were digital prints on photographic paper, while the ones with words are made by using chalk to write on blackboard then paint on paper. Each of the work in this art piece are 100 x 70 cm.

I was amazed by it. First of all, I feel myself quite tiny when standing in front of this art piece as it is huge, where the top of it was near the roof of the galley and it is almost the doubled size of the other art pieces. To me, black-and-white photos are stunning. In this art piece, the black-and-white photos are suitably being put together with the "blackboards", which I think is match very well.

On the photos there are different symbolic scenes and things of Macau, including The Ruins of St. Paul's, temples, foreign sailors and even the first casino in Macau. 5 of the photos used the technique of double exposure which, to me, makes them contain more meaning. The "words on blackbord" are passages from Chinese painter and poet Wu Li and a Portuguese Writer, Wenceslau de Moraes. Wu Li was one of the first three Chinese Catholic priests, while Wenceslau de Moraes has spent several years in Macau before moving to Japan. The words from them are also realted to some symbolic things or characters of Macau, like Mazu.

John Young was born in Hong Kong and moved to Australia in 1967. He is deeply interested in those lives that cross countries, cultures and histories. This piece of art work and also the others in this exhibition, was his homage to the myths and memories that affect the lives of the Portuguese, Macanese and Chinese. Both the photos and words on The Macau Days are beautiful and vaulable records of those memories that should not be forgot.