Hong Kong Jewish community member and British artist Louise Soloway Chan has a series of fascinating panels and clay sculptures in the Sai Ying Pun MTR underground commuter station on Hong Kong Island. Her artwork, titled “Inside, Outside North, South, East, West”, is located at the B1 and B2 entrances/ exits on the Lift Lobby Concourse Level.

Louise explained: “The diverse local culture in Sai Ying Pun provides such inspirational subject matter for me. I’ve always been drawn to dense urban surroundings, watching people as they go about their daily lives. I regularly carry small sketchbooks and make quick on-the-spot sketches whenever I can, especially when travelling on public transport, at the hairdressers and in bars and cafés. Over the years I have gathered a huge collection of images, which I use as reference material to compose into larger works. I’m constantly aware of the never-ending cycle of the working masses that keep the city alive, and aim to capture an essence of the rapidly changing urban environment.”

“The movement and effort of people pushing produce around, trolleys piled high with new stock or old lap sap [rubbish], men in suits rushing off to work, helpers getting children to school, old people strolling, sitting or playing Mahjong. All the silent voices and invisible hands that are the backbone of this great city that I’ve been privileged to live and work in for the last 20 years. I hope the artwork at Sai Ying Pun will be seen as Sai Ying Pun’s own artwork, for those who pass through the station to enjoy and cause them to pause for a moment, to appreciate the living spirit of one of Hong Kong’s most unique and special places,” she added.

Louise has been a Hong Kong resident for over 20 years, and has been inspired by oriental art from her very first travels in Asia while she was studying Fine Art at the Bath Academy of Art in Wiltshire, UK. It was India that inspired her most, and is the inspiration for the mediums she is working with today.