New Territories 界

The series of images from the title, New Territories, explores the changing landscape of Hong Kong's northern frontier, caught between its past and ongoing integration with mainland China. It is a journey across the ruins of fading memories of what once was to discover the meaning of home in a city that is ever changing. 

The artist discovers a landscape interwoven with myths and forgotten histories. Each of his encounters reveal a territory torn between its past and proximity with Shenzhen, in which villages are demolished to the ground to make way for new towers, hidden shrines unearth neglected histories, and forests are eroded by construction. 

The landscape becomes a new kind of territory, an inner journey that straddles past and present, nature and civilisation, occupation and absence, the seen and imagined. These images are contemplative as they are descriptive as the artist ponders the meaning of territory, memory and time, and the legacies of the past. 

About the Photographer

Justin started photographing back in 2014 when he took a one-way flight to East Africa to document Chinese development for a year. Since then, he has drawn on his background in architecture to explore themes that engender land development, absence, memory, and globalisation. Besides photography, he also uses mediums such as archival research, mapping, and found material. He lives and works between New York and Hong Kong.