THE SHOPHOUSE is pleased to present Yat Tung, a solo exhibition by Hong Kong-based artist Bonny Wong Hiu Ching that explores the depths of loss and connection through a series of broken and borrowed memories. A collection of imagery that revolves around the artist’s experience of hiking with her late father – chasing first light – the newly created paintings navigate the paths of absence and presence, reaffirming life through the act of repeated seeking.

A homage to her father’s name ‘Yat Tung’ – which translates as ‘Sun’ and ‘East’ – the exhibition narrative is founded on Bonny Wong Hiu Ching’s memory of hiking Kowloon Peak with her family in the days leading up to her father’s passing. The daily quest was to reach the top in time to watch the sunrise, though only once had they succeeded before their eventual loss. The depicted sceneries are a combination of imaginations by the artist based on short stories told by her father on their trips and various views as seen from her father’s perspective as the artist revisits his paths. The former are of places heard of but never rediscovered, and the latter are of familiar sights, reactivated through the eyes of the living.

As Bonny Wong Hiu Ching embarks on her own personal journey to witness sunrise once again, her documentation of the process becomes more than a representation of grief but a dense yearning for hope – searching for presence in the crevices of absence, seeking dawn in the dark of night. Meditatively quiet, within the depths of each artwork is the space for remembrance and discoveries – as well as the profound and bittersweet connections that emerge from the voids of loss.

THE SHOPHOUSE欣然呈獻香港藝術家黃曉程（Bonny Wong Hiu Ching）個展「日東」（Yat Tung），透過一系列破碎與借得的回憶，探索失去與連結的深度。全新創作的繪畫作品圍繞著藝術家與已故父親一同行山的經歷——追尋第一道曙光——在缺席與存在的軌跡中穿梭，在一次次的找尋中重塑生命。

為了向父親的名字「日東」（Yat Tung）「（意指『太陽』和『東方』）致敬，展覽敘事基於黃曉程在父親過世前與家人遠足飛鵝山的回憶。家人們每天的任務是及時登頂觀賞日出，然而在父親過世前，他們僅成功了一次。繪畫中所描繪的景色，是父親在旅途中一邊講述山友們之間的小故事一邊帶領藝術家到訪的隱蔽空間，亦是她從父親的角度重訪他的路途時所看到的各種景色：前者是她曾經與父親一起到訪過但後來再也尋找不到的地方，靠着記憶的畫面和想像重塑當時的空間，後者則是透過她當下的視角重新看到的熟悉事物。

當黃曉程踏上她個人的旅程，再次獨自追尋日出時，她對過程的紀錄不只是對悲傷的表達，而是對希望的強烈渴望——在缺席的縫隙中尋找存在，正如同在黑夜中尋找黎明。在黃曉程每件作品的深處，都有令人沉思的靜謐空間，以及在思念的空隙中所產生的苦甜參半的深刻連結，供人懷想與發掘。