A subtle look at contemporary Hong Kong, Gideon de Kock’s “Short Stories” is an ongoing project now encompassing almost 5 years worth of street and documentary film photography. He writes to me stuck from his family home in Somerset West, South Africa. What was meant to be a short family visit with his girlfriend, subsequently turned into a 4-week lock-down and self-isolation period, where he now waits until further notice to return to Hong Kong.

- Alexa Fahlman

My personal depiction and documentation of Hong Kong started around the time I picked up my first camera as an adult. I had just moved to the city after 18 months in Mainland China - the "small" city of Taizhou to be specific - in the capacity of an English teacher. As a musician prior to all of this, I was unable to pursue this passion due to unfamiliarity with the new environment, moving around, and lack of an "in" into the musical community, if you will.

I like to walk, as a result I like to explore, and out of the need for a creative outlet came photography - a comfortable addition to an already solitary and somewhat insular habit. Hong Kong is such a visually stimulating city I couldn't help but find things to photograph. I feel many parts of Hong Kong are unrepresented to an outsider, or expat like myself, and so I took it upon myself to document. In hindsight, I was simply looking for answers to unknown questions at an uncertain point in my life, and the depiction of an underrepresented Hong Kong and an invisible working-class demographic became a vessel for this. Inevitably, it became an ongoing project themed around empathy; empathy for others and your environment - the place you currently call home. I was never interested in capturing "grand gestures"– moments of awe and wonder–as I've always been enamored by the beauty of subtlety.

As in many cities like Hong Kong the pace of living and work can be taxing on the individual, and it becomes too easy to be sucked into an environment and routine where we look outward for sustenance, beauty and pleasure; our blinkers tightly secured against the mundanity of the constant. Some don't see their homes any more, they don't truly *see* their neighbors. This documentation eventually formed the foundation of my first solo photo book Some Near Some Far.

These images are here to remind us of what we’re missing when we lack attention; moments of the surreal, moments of humour, moments of beauty–all grandiose in their near invisibility–lost were we to not pay a modicum of attention. Hong Kong has had a turbulent time since the Umbrella Revolution back in 2014, to the ongoing Extradition protests in 2019, and now we’re all sharing the burden of the current COVID-19 pandemic.

These “short stories” lack context because they’re rich enough for you to craft your own narrative. They’re here to encourage empathy for your fellow people and place, to develop a deeper understanding that we’re all sharing so much, but these photos are also filled with nuance that requires understanding and patience to wholly grasp. On the most surface of levels, these are really just beautiful vignettes of a vibrant and dynamic city, captured on 35mm film.

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