Hong Kong International Photo Festival (HKIPF) is returning from 8 November to 8 December 2024, with the flagship exhibition Mega family. Imagining home at the Hong Kong Arts Centre. Co-curated by Blues Wong and Carol Chow, the exhibition echoes the Festival’s earlier explorations of the theme of “home” in exhibitions 300 Families in 2013 and 1000 Families in 2016. Sponsored by Fujifilm Hk, Mega family. Imagining home invites 15 local photographers from different generations to showcase their works about Hong Kong since 2020, reflecting on the redefinition of home and family in the post-pandemic era and serving as a visual documentation of the social changes experienced under the new normality.

Unlike previous years, which featured satellite exhibitions and collaborations with overseas artists, this year’s HKIPF focuses on local culture through this single thematic exhibition. Mega Family: Imagining Home aims to explore the evolving physical, cultural, and even mental landscapes in post-pandemic Hong Kong, examining how the meaning of “home” and “family” shifts with changes in the environment amidst a dynamic social backdrop.

“We hope that by focusing on local culture, this exhibition can present the multifaceted stories of Hong Kong”, says co-curator Blues Wong. “After the pandemic, the concept of home is no longer singular; it has been reinterpreted as a dynamic entity, filled with various flows and intersections. We look forward to the audience finding resonance here and connecting with these stories”. Co-curator Carol Chow adds, “The imagination of home is not static; it continuously evolves with time and experience, which is precisely the core we hope to explore in the exhibition”.

The works of the 15 local photographers weave together a nonlinear, ongoing story of Hong Kong. Each of them offers a unique perspective on the different aspects of “family” and “homeland”, while showcasing the evolution of the photographic medium—from manipulation and mixed media to experiments with artificial intelligence, exemplifying the rhizomatic potentiality of photography in narrating, responding to, and imagining reality.