Visible Wind: Burgees and Benches, 2021
While surrounded by the sea in a geographical sense, Lamma Island can also find itself among a sea of flags at times. On festive occasions, colourful burgees printed with auspicious texts are flown at the front of the Tin Hau Temple. Using the traditional burgee as blueprint, artists Kinchoi Lam and Jess Lau created their own, printed with Chinese characters such as saifung (get under the sail) and jiulou (sculling), terms familiar to the islanders but new to city dwellers. The sea breeze is ‘seen’ when the burgees flutter. Using abandoned benches from Sok Kwu Wan Playground as frames, the artists outfitted them with narrow strips of marine timber commonly used by the fisherfolk and further decorated them with inset of shards and broken tiles picked up along the shores of the island. Feel the vibes of Lamma Island as you listen to the gentle lapping waves and read The South Lamma Slang Dictionary while resting on the bench.
“The more we visit the island, the more we realise our ignorance of the islanders’ everyday lingo. Those words are indeed the embodiment of the lifestyle, culture and history of the residents, and are far more interesting than the textual descriptions on paper.”
看見風：旗旛及長椅
除了地理上四面環海，南丫島 也有另一片海——旗海。每逢節 慶，天后廟前飄著色彩繽紛、 印有不同祝願語的三角旗幟。 藝術家林建才與劉清華以傳統旗 幟作為原型，印上島民常用、 但對都市人來說的陌生字詞， 如「駛風」、「搖櫓」等。旗幟 飄揚，讓人「看見」海風。 藝術家另以索罟灣遊樂場的廢 棄長椅做支架，換上漁民常用的 杪木條，再嵌上從南丫島岸邊 收集的磚瓦碎片，讓觀眾聽著海 浪拍打的聲音，坐在岸邊細細 閱讀藝術家創作的《南丫南俚語 字典 》， 感受南 丫島的一點一滴。
「入得島愈多，發現島民放響口邊嘅詞彙我 哋都唔識，好似『攞條花尾』、『出去圍罟仔』 之類。裡面包含住島民嘅生活文化同歷史，比起 文獻上記載嘅嚟得有趣同活！」
