Its final destiny is door number 760 at the United Nations Square, in New York. This is where Macau: Back to Common Roots, an extensive 100-metre work of pen and ink drawings depicting the evolution of Macau over the centuries, is going to be shown.
Lok Hei, the artist responsible for this masterpiece, is the vice-president of the Macau Artist Society. Scheduled to be displayed in New York later this year, in a building that unites representatives from almost 200 nations, his works were already screened on TDM in a documentary series last month, on December 20, the day that marked the 15th anniversary of Macau’s handover to China.
The series consisted of ten episodes, featuring interviews with relevant Macau voices and Lok Hei’s meticulous artwork.
“After we produced a documentary called Macau People, we wanted to recover some of those testimonies and add something more creative to them,” says Zhang Gang, the producer of the series. “Then, after some reflection, we decided to enrich it through a work of art.”
The original idea was to create an adapted version of the famous classic painting f, attributed to Zhang Zeduan (1085-1145) and often described as the Mona Lisa of China, given its status as the most well known Chinese work of art.
“However, we ended up creating something new, a set of paintings that could be brought to the documentary by using modern video techniques – and that’s when we found the ideal artist to do so,” continues Zhang Gang.
Lok Hei based his drawings on ten different themes, as many as the episodes of the documentary: history; economy; religion; habits; education; literature, theater and cinema; press, radio and television; art, music and dance; architectural heritage; and communities.
“When they explained the whole project to me, my brain went totally blank. I felt I would either make it or break it. It’s so hard when you look at 100 meters of paper and don’t know what to draw”, he recalls.
Lok Hei had to prepare a script that he could follow during the process. He started drawing in February last year and eight months later, in September, he finished the last of the 100 paintings, each one meter long, depicting Macau’s evolution over the centuries.
“The hardest thing was to finish the first one. The biggest difficulty was having such a huge amount of information in my hands and not knowing what to do with it, how to select it or how to include it all in the same composition. I eventually decided to draw all the different elements separately on paper, and study different options after that. I believe my experience as a graphic designer was very important in achieving this,” he says.
Macau: Back to Common Roots was developed with the support of Zhang Gang’s company, Tianyi Media & Culture, TDM and the Macau Artist Society, and the research material was provided by museums, churches and libraries and even a number of local individuals who delivered significant contributions.
Both the documentary series and the artist’s work don’t ignore political issues – amongst Lok Hei’s drawings we can see some of the most emblematic moments of the 1,2,3 Movement during the Cultural Revolution – but they’re far from being preponderant. Instead, the main focus is on the legacies of men such as Francisco Xavier, Matteo Ricci and Robert Morrison.
“All missionaries brought to Macau, to China and the whole of Asia, the scientific knowledge and the most developed technologies you could find at that time,” says Zhang, highlighting the universal characteristics of Macau.
And that is precisely what is going to be shown at the United Nations. “Macau is a place where East and West meet, that’s its historical importance, its cultural richness – and by accepting this exhibition, that’s what the UN is actually acknowledging.”
The dates for the New York exhibition are still to be confirmed, but everything suggests that it will happen in April. Before that, Lok Hei’s work will be displayed in Macau, probably at The Venetian.
LOK HEI – an admirer of Chinnery
Lok Hei’s father, Lok Cheong, was the founder of the Macau Fine Arts Association. Now, Lok Hei is the vice-president of that same institution and also the artist responsible for Macau: Back to Common Roots.
A self-made artist, Lok Cheong decided to pass to his son a tremendous devotion to the learning of western painting techniques, together with an interest in Chinese traditional painting. Nowadays, Lok Hei names Chinese artist Gao Jianfu, from Lingnan’s influential school, as the one who inspires him the most. However, he confesses to have a greater admiration for another painter: George Chinnery.
“Chinnery and George Smirnoff, for example, they both made big contributions to the development of Macau’s art history”, he says. “Actually, in this long painting I’ve been working on, I also pay tribute to George Chinnery, by adopting his style to draw Macau’s constructions.”
Lok Hei has been working as a graphic designer and using all his spare time on his artistic projects. Only now, at the age of 60, has he decided to devote himself totally to this project. “This is a big challenge, it’s the work of a lifetime”, he admits.
Zhang Gang – the project’s mastermind
Sixty-six year old Zhang Gang from Nanjing, is the man behind the project Macau: Back to Common Roots. Zhang came to Macau in 2008, after spending 20 years in the US. He decided to settle in Macau together with his wife Fu Zhiping, who directed a documentary about our city released last month on TDM. On the 10th anniversary of the MSAR, their production company made a 60-episode series about Macau for TDM, entitled Macau People. Since then, they’ve never stopped developing projects related to the city.
Beijing was another city where Zhang lived when he was young. His father, a member of the Communist Party, was transferred to the capital and Zhang worked for some time at The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Later in 1984, he was requested to go to Zhongnanhai, the central headquarters of the Communist Party and the State Council. The Chinese Prime Minister at that time, Zhao Ziyang, wanted him to work for the Government as a financial advisor. Five years later, Zhao Ziyang was the General Secretary of the Communist Party but was pushed aside by the Party’s most conservative faction, just after the events in Tiananmen Square.
One year later, in 1990, Zhang moved to the US and established a long term working relationship with Columbia University. He doesn’t like to talk about his last years in Beijing or the June 4th events. He prefers to say that being close to high-ranking officials at that time made it possible for him to establish good connections that he still has nowadays.
“Because of my connections at the Permanent Mission of China to the UN, I was introduced to someone in charge of the exhibition in the UN Secretariat”, he explains. And that’s how Macau’s singular history made its way to be shown in New York.
