Undoubtedly this trip home to Hong Kong has been the best one in a while. While each trip is very special, this one felt even more so. I arrived end of November with a return ticket booked early January. I extended it until end of March to spend more time with my Mum. ❤️ with time always fleeting - it felt special to take this opportunity to change plans 🫶
Some poignant moments of the trip include
❤️ Celebrating my Mum’s 70th birthday and spending the most time I have with her in a while! ❤️
💞 Being physically here to commemorate with my Mum, the 22nd anniversary of my Dad passing
🇭🇰 Being home in HK for Chinese New Year, the first time in over 12 years.
📚Spending an extensive amount of time exploring libraries across Hong Kong’s islands
📸 Researching visual imagery away from the Eurocentric eye (many of above images are found imagery in my research).
👯♀️ Seeing my best friend at least once a week (or more) - never have I been so sad to leave.
🌸 Reconfiguring my nervous system and really taking a big moment to rest mentally.
🎥 Visiting Shanghai’s Film Museum which was one of the huge highlights being in SH.
🎞️ Finding photo slides of old Hong Kong & Macau before Macau was what it is today. I’ll always remember being a child there and blinking and seeing buildings just pop up from nowhere! 🤯
🍀 Exploring a plethora of Chinese vegan restaurants in Hong Kong. 🍜
🇲🇴 Revisiting Macau and exploring memory lane with my Mum after living there for 10 years. The duality of Macau is both bittersweet & heartwarming.
@tate // Don’t let big white western institutions push you out. Lunar New Year yet out of all 10 artists featured - not one Asian artist (not one???? When it’s made THAT clear - that’s a CHOICE.) This is just colonialism at its finest and why it’s so important we don’t leave our history left in the hands of these institutions 🤢🤮🤮🤮🤮
Visited @chogiseok ’s Shanghai exhibition at @fotografiska.shanghai and it was everything as expected 🤩😮💨🌺🌻🥀🪷✨⭐️🌈 absolutely beautiful from start to finish! 💚💚🩷🩷🩷🩵🩵🩵
Came across @islanders.zine today and found the discussion of going against incessant capitalism, questioning what it means to be “productive” and choosing to go at your own pace + choosing your own life style specifically in Peng Chau island and HK in general — really hitting home. ❤️ I’m constantly questioning what being involved in the visual industry means & what more can be done to continue positive work that empowers us without driving us into the ground. Big props to @islanders.zine 🫶
One of the best bits of my year has been reading. Reading obsessively which reshaped my relationship with work and life tbh. It helped me focus my energy on the slow and visualise and crave something different than what I had been used to doing in the industry. ❤️ I’ve spent more time at libraries, bookshops and chairs that will have me to read - than I ever have and have found some real gems from Asian fiction authors to deep dives into my favourite eras of 1930 to late 60s film and people of colour in visuals within that. A pure joy to research & archive more this year than create 🫶🫶🫶🫶
This past week, I spoke at CSM about my casting practice and unpacking nuanced casting direction vs visual messaging in the industry. The timing felt significant as I’ve been questioning for the last year what it means to be in the fashion industry, my place within it, and my growing apathy toward its systems.
In 2025, I’ve taken on only a handful of paid casting jobs, turned down all unpaid ones, and asked myself what I truly want from this work. My capacity / tolerance for the industry has shortened to an all time low and I wanted to focus my time on managing the current models I rep + digging deeper into not only creating more visuals but unearthing research on how “the Other” is seen, treated, and collaborated within history. My aim has always been to bring minorities to the forefront of imagery - both on and off camera - but lately, I’ve felt disillusioned by the industry’s superficiality and unethical practices and it felt silly to continue churning out imagery.
After several burnouts, I began reflecting more deeply on “the Other” in visual culture. My work has always involved confronting injustice, exploitation, and discrimination - from racism, sexism, size discrimination to laughable model contracts that don’t protect models, to the last minute “urgentness” of everything and more. Being a freelancer in a system so resistant to change often felt like trying to reinvent the wheel - a fatigue I know many share.
My mindset has always been of eternal optimism and that the cup is always half full - and so this felt like a natural pivot towards a continued amplification of marginalised voices in visuals in another way. Rather than centering the current industry on further creation and consumption, I want to use my space to share research and thoughts on how “the Other” has lived, triumphed, been erased, and persevered. I’ll still cast and manage, but I’m looking forward to using my space in different ways.
Parts referenced from:
Hollywood Blackout by Ben Arogundade
The Asian Mystique by Sheridan Prasso
The Whole Picture by Alice Procter
