Nights in Suspense: Eternal Reveries

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Gatekeeper, 2016 - Warm golden light washed across the columns of the former Court of Final Appeal in Central. As I set up my camera, the cool blue glow of City Hall framed the historic façade in sharp contrast. The gatekeeper noticed me and straightened his posture inside the small glass booth. His red tie stood out against the cool interior light as he briefly performed the role of authority. — Gatekeeper, 2016

Pool Player, 2018 - Chronic insomnia and severe anemia gradually shifted my routine from photographing the city during the day to observing it after midnight. From my window, a man often appeared playing pool alone on a nearby rooftop, a cloth draped over part of the structure as if to shield him from surrounding apartments. That evening, a red lit window from a neighboring unit glowed on one side while a yellow street light illuminated the street below. The lone player remained absorbed in his game within the dense layers of the city. — Pool Player, 2018

Angler, 2018 - Along the rocky shoreline in Lei Yue Mun, I noticed a man sitting on the boulders with a fishing rod extended into the dark water. The rocks held a warm amber glow, while the cool light of his phone lit his face as he looked down. On one side, a Chinese temple shimmered softly in the distance. Across the water, residential towers rose in bright rows of windows. Between them, the angler appeared held in place, suspended between two versions of the city. — Angler, 2018

Stock Watcher, 2017 - Outside an investment company in Wan Chai, a man watched the stock index through the glass. I paused by the window as the office glowed beneath bamboo scaffolding, with piles of construction debris resting along the pavement behind him. Blue light from a window above spilled into the street. Warm yellow light from the office and the cooler blue above formed an unexpected pairing. He remained absorbed in the shifting numbers while the surrounding street stayed quiet. — Stock Watcher, 2017

Sleeping Guard, 2019 - Temporary tents lined one side of the grounds of the annual flower show at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, with white plastic dining sets arranged neatly beneath them. Everything was already prepared for the crowds expected the next day. At the entrance a female guard sat alone on a plastic chair, in shadow against the bright lights. Gradually her head lowered as sleep crept in, her quiet fatigue contrasting with the orderly space waiting for the public event to begin. — Sleeping Guard, 2019

Market Stall, 2017 - Standing in the middle of the street at the Ladies’ Market in Mongkok, I looked into a stall packed with handbags, wallets, and accessories hanging in dense rows of color. At the front a young woman sat quietly at the stall scrolling through her phone. Behind her, on the sidewalk, a Southeast Asian man rested on a chair. Farther inside the shop shelves of goods filled the background, revealing the market as a series of layered spaces — Market Stall, 2017

Push Ups, 2022 - The skyline beyond Tamar Park in Admiralty glowed through the night haze while visitors gathered along the raised platform to admire the harbor view. Near where my tripod stood, a couple did push ups side by side in the shadow on the grass. The bright skyline drew the eye upward while their quiet exercise unfolded almost unnoticed below. — Push Ups, 2022

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After thirty years of photographing Hong Kong’s transforming urban landscape, I began working at night in the mid 2010s, when prolonged wakefulness and physical fragility altered my sense of time. This shift was not driven by concept, but by circumstance. Working after dark recalibrated duration and attention, slowing both movement and perception and allowing space for reflection.

While my practice continues to draw from documentary and fine art traditions, the night introduces a different emotional register. Familiar places lose their certainty. Light isolates rather than explains. Human presence becomes intermittent, appearing briefly before receding into architecture and shadow. The city is no longer a spectacle, but a psychological environment shaped by stillness and suspension.

Nights in Suspense: Eternal Reverie is a meditation on urban space after dark. The photographs centre on fleeting encounters with workers, wanderers, and solitary figures whose routines continue quietly beneath artificial light. These moments are defined less by action than by pause, where individuals appear absorbed in their own inner worlds.

Rather than documenting the city, this series reimagines it. Night becomes a lens through which time softens and meaning surfaces gradually. As urgency withdraws, subtle gestures and quiet persistence come forward, revealing how emotion and environment intertwine when the city slows.

Nights in Suspense: Eternal Reveries

2016 – Present

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Artist Statement