Sculptor Chen Weiming dedicates "Liberate Hong Kong" sculpture to Hongkongers, claims dictatorship will be overthrown

Two million people took to the streets to protest. "Baldy Officer Liu" whipped out his gun to threaten protesters; a young girl was shot in the eye.... Beneath Lion Rock, a series of breathtaking scenes appeared and reappeared like a spinning zoetrope. Creator of the New Goddess of Democracy, the US-residing sculptor Chen Weiming recently took to portraying scenes of the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill (Anti-ELAB) movement with the theme, "Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times". In an interview with Apple Daily in Los Angeles, he appealed to Hongkongers not to give up their fight for freedom. "The actions of one person may seem meaningless on its own. But when you combine every single drop of water, the rushing torrent will overthrow the fortress of authoritarian dictatorship."

After the Anti-ELAB movement began in June last year, Chen kept wanting to document the events through sculpture. "There are just too many poignant and elegiac scenes in Hong Kong and I've only collected a few thousand photos. A month before I started working [on the piece], I reviewed pictures from the internet, the library and the albums that people sent me. I don't want to miss any important images or shots." Chen spent a few months referencing the pictures and paring them down from thousands to hundreds. In March this year, he got down to work.

The sculpture was designed as a cuboid with five faces at the top. It measures 5.3m long and 2.3m wide, with a height of 5m. Front and centre, the Goddess of Democracy stands, holding a shield. Her left hand holds a flag saying "Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times". A "valiant" stands to her right, modelled after Joshua Wong Chi-fung. A "peaceful, rational, non-violent" parent holds a child and flanks her left alongside "fellows-in-arms" with gloves on, holding onto each other.

The four sides of the sculpture depict not only the peaceful protests of millions of people in Hong Kong. There are also representations of suffering, struggle, defeat and standing up for the resistance. Chen claimed that in the language of sculpture, its close-ups embody anti-violence. One can see a protester being beaten and falling to the ground. At centre stage, people are shot with tear gas canisters while protesters extinguish them with water or kick them back as an expression of resistance. The broader picture shows Hong Kong's hopes: students hold hands to protect their home. "They're so young and innocent that [a boy and a girl] don't even want to hold hands. The had to use a pen to be held together. These little details are everywhere."

The sculpture's other side depicts the scene of protesters storming into the Legislative Council building. "The Hong Kong Legislative Council has turned into a puppet. The pro-democracy legislators have been repudiated and taken away. The Legislative Council has become an imperial tool of the Communist Party. Its absurdity is beyond belief." Chen felt that "Occupy LegCo" held symbolic meaning. Since the Legislative Council had lost the spirit of the law, the people had the right to enter and express their demands.

The sculpture has already taken shape. On 29 August, the day of its formal unveiling, Chen will assemble the four relief pieces, atop which sits the outline of Lion Rock "to symbolise the passion, blood and lives of Hong Kong citizens that burgeoned into the Lion Rock spirit." Additionally, several locally-based American Hongkonger organisations gave Chen an assortment of tear gas shells picked up from protest sites, promotional material and souvenirs to be kept in a time capsule inside the sculpture. "That day, I asked him when he wanted to open (the time capsule) and this friend from a 'Hong Kong discussion forum' said it should be on the day Hong Kong is liberated."

Impacted by the June 4 Massacre, Chen started creating many pieces on the democratic movement in China over three decades ago; the New Goddess of Democracy installed at the Chinese University of Hong Kong came from Chen's hands. In 2017, Chen and his friends bought some land in the small desert town of Yermo, which lies on the outskirts of Los Angeles, to build the Liberty Sculpture Park. Inside sits an enormous monument to June 4 that has become a local landmark. After the completion of "Liberate Hong Kong", it will also become an installation at the park, making it the sixth large-scale sculpture there.

Chen believed that anti-communist and anti-totalitarian movements have become major trends and that the US took the lead in enacting foreign policies against China. He is convinced that "darkness is already coming to an end ... Hong Kong's national security law is arousing resistance in Hongkongers. It may be the last straw to break the Communist Party's back. The protests are very effective. Don't look at those of us who are overseas. We haven't done much in these 30 years. All these protests in Hong Kong have not brought much victory but in the bigger picture, victory will eventually come. Each of us needs to keep fighting on. The actions of one person may seem meaningless on its own. But when you combine every single drop of water, the rushing torrent will overthrow the fortress of authoritarian dictatorship."

Source: Apple Daily

https://hk.appledaily.com/international/20200813/GG6UL5SHU5DMJBEECPWVGZGQGU/