Vignettes of the World | Chestnut Journal

March 30, 2020

The Murals of Love in Kam Tin

The idea was simple. Let’s bring art into a traditional community by drawing and painting murals.

And the results were astounding.

Miss Kwok Yin-ming teaches visual arts at a secondary school. She wanted to bring love into the community by gathering students and volunteers to paint colorful murals on the walls of Kam Tin. Kam Tin, before this community initiative, was known for its traditional villages, many of which are walled. Kat Hing Wai is one such village. The color of the villages was the preeminent gray of the blue bricked walls, aged to a near-ebony. And Miss Kwok’s initiative would bring it to life with bright colors and exceptional artistry.

Any simple idea that requires the use of privately-owned space would turn out to be not so simple. When Miss Kwok began the project, she knocked door-to-door to seek approval by the residents. She was expecting harsh rejection. What she did not prepare for was the overwhelming support from the residents of Kam Tin. Many of them lived the traditional village life that respected hierarchy, order and communal consensus. The village heads of Kat Hing Wai and Wing Lung Wai received Miss Kwok warmly. And the word spread. The villagers began gathering signatures in support of Miss Kwok. They also obtained the consensus of property owners, and handed Miss Kowk a signed agreement. The positive response went beyond what Miss Kwok could ever hope for.

With each mural there is a design. Miss Kwok would draw out the plan of the mural and seek the approval of the property owner first, before work could begin. Meanwhile, besides her enthusiastic students, Miss Kwok also garnered the support of volunteers, some of whom are artists. Finally, she obtained sponsorship by the paint-maker Dulux, and with that put up mural after mural all over Kam Tin.

Beginning in 2017, Miss Kowk led her students and the volunteers every weekend and on each public holiday to paint. As they worked, and sometimes it entailed climbing up the ladders, they earned the approval of more and more residents in Kam Tin. People would stop by to marvel at the beauty of their work and their passion.

By now, in 2020, more than twenty-six paintings spanning across all of the Kam Tin area are up. During my visit, I walked and walked with the map that the group posted on its Facebook page but still did not manage to see all of them.

The murals have an incredible variety. Some are artistic, as imitations of famous paintings. Some are original, with abstract images. Others are cultural, with reference to common forms in Chinese culture. Still some are cartoons, turning common businesses into fun images. Finally, many are celebratory. By drawing on the heritage of Kam Tin, the murals turn it into spirited, communal and colorful expressions of pride and joy.

Visitors would not miss the thoughtfulness with which Miss Kwok’s group has extended on each painting. The murals on the outer walls of businesses meet the nature of the business. The murals on the walled villages feature cultural messages. The painting of a senior’s hospice features hundreds of hearts spread all over the walls onto the ground.

I was bedazzled as I went through these murals. The creativity was explosive and thought-provoking. What observers are able to see right away, is the passion, the respect, the group work and the community support required to make this possible.

With this successful beginning, Miss Kwok has received requests by other communities in Yuen Long to do the same. I look forward to seeing more of these. The initiative has really enlivened Kam Tin. And for this reason alone I would visit again, perhaps to hunt down all other murals that I did not see this time.