Following Hong Kong Is Beautiful, Isn’t It? And The Unspeakable, “After Island” is the third photography publication released by the Hong Kong-based independent photographer Chan Long Hei. The photographer consciously swirls from looking into social issues to untangling the visceral meanings from within, through unfolding and letting a journey over his memories and reminiscences flit and glide. Chan’s photobook includes black-and-white images captured in a particular island in recent years, which are the projections of his intuition and instinct of the moments. They not only delineate his heaving sentiments and trajectory of thoughts in a memorable period of time, but also represent the tactile linkages he has with each landscape and object encountered on the road. The after images created by lights that glow on his retinas, are as if the private album sealed in the witness of himself and the South shore of the island.

 "I start from a holiday resort and stroll along a coastal drive. I enter a beach. Grains of sand linger around footfalls. I circle about and come back to where I start. Through a rustic lane, I follow a trail of footsteps to wilderness where I rejoin the cattle. Some are cooling themselves off in the mud pond; others are letting up under the tree. They moisten one another as if a way of comforting in the times of absurdity. Such a bulky body, such a tender move …such affection is common to all life."

About the artist:

Chan Long Hei (b. 1994) is an independent photographer born and raised in Hong Kong. After studying Social Policy at the university, Chan began working as a photojournalist with various local and international media outlets. He also received several local and international photography awards, including Pictures of the Year Asia Award, Taiwan Excellent Journalism Award, VivianWu Journalism Award and several annual awards from the Hong Kong Press Photographers Association. Chan began publishing his own work in 2017. He has published two photo books including Hong Kong is beautiful, isn't it? and The Unspeakable. He now devotes his time to documenting social phenomena and developing his personal photography projects. 


香港獨立攝影師陳朗熹繼《香港美不美？》和《無以名狀的力量》後第三本個人攝影集，攝影師由探討社會議題的導向，轉而向內在尋覓，展開一段屬於個人記憶的旅程。他的書中集結了近年在某座島嶼上所照下的黑白影像，這種直覺的投射，坦陳了一段時光中的起伏與軌跡，每一張照片似乎都是與那片空間的一景一物有著連繫的具體呈現。他雙目中映照出的光線後像，是與島嶼南岸互相印證的一幀私風景。

「我從渡假酒店沿著海岸的公路徐步前行，經過海灘，腳步掀起沙子，繞了幾圈，又站在原地等待。後來我鑽進鄉間小路，跟隨腳印來到荒原，也總算會合了水牛群。他們有些在泥漿潭翻滾降溫，有些在樹底歇息，逍遙自在。他們會以舌互相舔吮，似要在這個荒謬的時代安撫對方，相濡以沫，龐大的身軀有著如此溫柔的舉動，這是所有生命體的共性。」

藝術家簡介：

陳朗熹，1994年出生並成長於香港。大學時期修讀社會政策，畢業後成為攝影記者，為不同本地及海外媒體工作，曾獲多個本地及國際攝影獎項，包括亞洲年度圖片獎、台灣卓越新聞獎、吳舜文新聞獎以及多個香港攝影記者協會年度獎項等。2017年開始發表個人作品，曾出版攝影集《香港美不美？》和《無以名狀的力量》。現為獨立攝影師，專注記錄社會現況並開展個人攝影計劃。