Cubicle life

Cubicle life is a heartfelt photo-book that offers an intimate look into the lives of residents in Hong Kong's Cubicle Apartments.

Chun Wai, the photographer and author, spent over a year conducting interviews and capturing images in the Sham Shui Po district. Through powerful point-of-view shots and a masterful use of colour and tones, this work reveals the living conditions of those often unseen by the majority in this densely populated city. In hopes of raising awareness, this book also portrays the lonely yet unwavering will-to-live of the underprivileged in Hong Kong.

《板間人生》

《板間人生》是一本充滿溫度的攝影集，以細膩視角窺見香港「板間房」住戶的真實生活圖景。

攝影師兼作者秦偉耗時逾年，深入深水埗區的板間房進行訪談與影像記錄。透過極具張力的主觀鏡頭，配合對色彩與影調的純熟掌控，這部作品揭開了香港這座高密度城市中多數人未曾目睹的居住實況。本書不僅期望喚起社會關注，更希望呈現出香港弱勢群體在困境中孤獨卻堅韌的生命力。

Book Description by Chun Wai

Cubicle life was literally cramped to sealed spaces that are unknown and seemingly detached from this city. Perhaps this is where lonely souls learn to live with abject privations.

The stories of cubicle dwellers presented from cinematic angles through touching scenes, portraits and point-of-view shots. With great sensitivity to colour and tonal subtleties, a highly coherent body of powerful images has created.

I deftly use a mix of medium shots and close-ups to connect and interact with my subjects. The results were honest yet unobtrusive – to capture the characters on camera with their dignity.

Through page after page of life experiences I have relived every down-and-out soul who is kept alive in the confines of their own cubicle, a space they call home. Over the course of this project, I kept asking myself two questions: What does it mean to exist? How could freedom be realized?

Cubicle life gives light to the lives that are buried under the dictates of elitism revered by our society. It also exposes the plight the underprivileged are trapped in, a situation where they are deprived of any opportunity for upward mobility. It also attempts to find out the meaning of life, as well as the worth of human existence.

Martin Heidegger, exploring Taoism in his later years, ruminated over the phrase:
‘Poetically man dwells.’
This is a state of life.

We have to remove the shackles of alienation and oppression before we can start putting an end to inhuman states of existence, and enable every individual to reach their true potential.

作品介紹 秦偉

《板間人生》整個拍攝過程都在一個封閉的空間內進行，一群香港底層市民的居處，那裏彷彿就是我們城市中某個不為人知的角落，每個人物孤獨地困守着一個落魄的心靈。

整組拍攝項目上用上不少電影的影像語言。場景、人物、主觀鏡頭，緩緩地將整體故事鋪陳出來，帶領讀者一步一步地走進一個人物的空間內。另一方面，直接找取現場的色溫變化，以迂迴的色調，構成有力的章節及風格化的影像話語，讓全組圖片一氣呵成。

圖片中多採用中近距離拍攝，這樣的拍攝位置既與被拍攝的人物有互動及聯繫，但未至於干擾被訪者的情緒，讓人物處於一種自然的狀態，這是攝影師對被訪者的一種尊重。

一頁有一頁的人生經歷，從而每個斗失困守着一個又一個落魄的心靈，孤獨地存活着。在拍攝這個項目的過程中，讓我不斷地反思及追問：存在的意義是什麼？人生怎樣實踐其自由？

《板間人生》的拍攝動機，除了呈現當今社會賴以信奉的菁英主義價值觀背後所隱藏的景象，以及弱勢群體被秉除向上流動的困局，也藉此探問生命的含意及存在的價值。

哲學家海德格爾Martin Heideggger晚年的思想步入道家狀態，他曾說過：「人，詩意的棲居。」

這是一種生命的境界。

我深信，要伸展個人生命的潛能，揚棄「非人」的境況，就必須先解除異化和壓抑的捆綁。

About the Artist Chun Wai

Born and raised in Hong Kong, he is currently a lecturer of the Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Photography at the Hong Kong University School of Continuing Education. He graduated from École Supérieure d’Art de Mulhouse and earned his Diplôme National Supérieur d’Expression Plastique (DNSEP) from the Ministry of Culture in France. His graduate work focused on integrating Western contemporary art with Eastern aesthetics.

He believes that art should never rigidly abide by any particular style, but be open to all of life. Photography is his primary medium, along with sculpture and installation. He consistently emphasizes that photography provides a pathway to explore the meaning of existence and being, and creates a space for reflection. Chun’s work is meticulous and allegorical. His photographic perspective focuses on interpreting eras of rapid change. His work blends literary and documentary techniques to construct an obscure visual language, revealing his hesitations and expectations regarding of our current era. He has won several Human Rights Press Awards. His published collections include A Revelrous Heterotopia, Adrift in Time, Another Horizon, Under Heaven and Cubical Life. His works have been collected by the University Museum of Art, Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, the Municipality of Mulhouse, France, and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Salta, Argentina.

秦偉生平介紹

出生及成長於香港。 現任教於香港大學專業進修學院當代攝影深造文憑課程。 早年畢業於法國米盧斯高等藝術學院，以當代西方的藝術造型表現和東方美學思維的結合，完成其修業研究。

秦偉認為藝術不應拘泥任何形式，而是生命的全然開放。 他的創作涵蓋雕塑、裝置及攝影等範疇，尤重攝影，他相信攝影是探索存在與本質的路徑，可從中構建思考空間。 他的攝影題材嚴謹而富寓意，鏡頭聚焦於這個急速變動的時代，作品糅合文學與紀實手法，建構出隱晦的影像語言，流露著對這個時代的仿徨與期盼。 曾多次獲頒人權新聞獎。 已出版作品包括《異域狂歡》、《時間的漫遊》、《另一段的地平線》、《在天堂之下》及《板間人生》。 作品獲香港大學美術博物館、香港文化博物館、法國Mulhouse市政府、阿根廷薩塔爾當代美術館（Museum of Contemporary Art of Salta，Argentina）收藏。