CHOW's paintings of the protests offer neither context nor explanation. Instead of forcing an interpretation onto the viewer, they adopt a street-level perspective. We witness the clashes like ordinary Hongkongers would if they suddenly found themselves in a tense and rapidly escalating situation. Overwhelmed and with nothing but glimpses of the unfolding events, we must piece the fragments of information together by ourselves.
In their immediacy and directness, CHOW's paintings resemble the quick social media snapshots shared by citizen journalists during the protests. Committing those scenes to canvas, however, lends them a heightened sense of urgency. They make clear that something very important has changed, something that must never be allowed to slip into oblivion.