The Unfinished Return of Yu Man-hon
VIEW EVENT DETAILSNext Act: Contemporary Art from Hong Kong Education Program
Image courtesy of the Unfinished Return of Yu Man-hon, Cici Wu, 2019
Online Screening
Thursday, March 11, 2021
Screening 19:00 (YouTube link https://youtu.be/H1qXwIp55x8 )
*Video only available on YouTube until 07:00 March 12, 2021.
The Unfinished Return of Yu Man-hon focuses on Cici Wu’s cultural imaginary and extensive research into the unaccountable disappearance of Yu Man-hon, a mentally disabled and an autistic boy who crossed the Hong Kong-Shenzhen border into the mainland and disappeared on August 24, 2000. His case remains unsolved to this day.
Filmed in both Minneapolis and Hong Kong, the work follows an abstract narrative where Man-hon returns to the material world, retrieving lost memories of his disappearance in the process. The artist’s camera floats through the city’s myriad pedestrian spaces, lingering at certain familiar places to which Man-hon felt particular attachment – a swing set or favorite restaurant, a local supermarket or bus-depot, a ferry or market. The short film highlights the emotional fragility of our memory, attempts to challenge the familiar interpretation of Man-Hon as an embodiment of loss, and to perceive his image as an enlightened being rather than a ghost.
This screening is Full HD version.
Cici Wu lives and works in New York. Having received her bachelor degree from School of Creative Media, the City University of Hong Kong, and completed her MFA at Maryland Institute College of Art, She has had solo exhibitions at Empty Gallery, Hong Kong (2019), 47 Canal, New York (2018), Bonnevalle, Noisy-le-Sec, France (2018), and has participated in group exhibitions at 47 Canal, New York (2019), Para Site, Hong Kong (2018), and Triangle Arts Association, New York (2017). She has co-curated group exhibition Scraggly Beard Grandpa at Capsule Shanghai (2017), and co-founded PRACTICE, a studio and residency based in New York (2015). She was an artist-in-residence at Queens Museum, New York (2018-2020), Seawitch, Hong Kong (2018), and Taipei Artists Village, Taiwan (2017).