wong kan-tai 黃勤帶 Diana Hong Kong 2014

One of the most serious chapters in Hong Kong’s recent history, captured with a toy camera

When the Umbrella Movement began to emerge in 2014, photographer and Hong Kong-native Wong Kan-Tai (b. 1957) happened to try out a range of cameras for a new project – among them the Diana Plus toy camera, originally invented in Hong Kong in the 1950s. As the social movement began to take shape and people took to the streets, Wong brought his Diana Plus along to document the events. The B-style shutter paired with the specially designed flash proved a perfect companion during the rising conflict in this city of neon lights and skyscrapers.

Edited and published almost ten years later, “Diana Hong Kong 2014” and its lofi images appear like a bittersweet reminder of the excitement, the youthful imagination and the lost hope during one of Hong Kong’s last rebellion against its oppressive fate.