THE ARTS

HKWALLS 2025

Being Neighbourly x Jason Dembski, HKWALLS

Author/ Being Neighbourly
11 March 2025

In just over one weeks’ time, Jason Dembski, Co-founder of HKWALLS and his team will be in the throes of the 10th edition of HKWALLS; and in just over two weeks, it’ll all be over for another year (The festival runs from March 22-30 this year).

But for now, we’re sitting at a Soho cafe, drinking iced tea and looking backwards.

With a background in architecture, the bespectacled American from Columbus, Ohio, came to Hong Kong in 2009, taking up a role in a firm that had been founded by two of his professors. He met his wife, Maria, now Managing Director of HKWALLS, and, together, they are raising their 6-year old daughter here.

It was a case of world’s colliding: a project at Maria’s then-workplace dovetailed with Dembski’s hobby of photographing and documenting street art, and HKWALLS was born; with Dembski leaving his architectural role within a few years of his arrival in the SAR to devote his 24 hours a day to street art and what has, in the years since, become Hong Kong’s most exciting outdoor art festival, attracting big name corporate sponsors such as Sino Group, VANS, Kai Tak Sports Park and others.

“The first edition of the festival featured a mix of local and [international] Kong Kong based
artists as well as D*Face, a well known UK street artist who was visiting HK for an exhibition. Hong Kong had a fairly small pool of about 20 artists [involved in street art] then. The number has grown… People come and go,” says Dembski, reeling off some of the street art luminaries of Hong Kong today, “Elsa Jeandedieu (who was one of the participating artists in the Being Neighbourly exhibition ‘Transitions’, last year), Christopher Ho, Bao Ho and Zoey Lam…”

This year’s festival, was previewed with the painting of the Aberdeen Street wall along PMQ by artists Cynthia Omi and Bo Law, in what is as much of a tease of what is to come as a celebration of HKWALLS new partnership with PMQ and home within the compound.

“PMQ will be home base to this year’s artists who will gather there each morning before dispersing to the various walls they will be painting —this year in Central & Western district,” says Dembski.

Art to Connect

Hong Kong artist Cynthia Omi was the force behind one of the painted walls outside PMQ. Omi studied Visual Communication, and, after graduating, began her career in the fashion graphic field, where she simultaneously explored mural painting and illustration, which allowed her to express her artistic vision in larger formats.

“The concept behind this artwork is about helping people connect with their true selves in a meaningful way. My idea is to create artwork that resonates on a deeper level to encourage this inner connection,” she says.

“In bringing this vision to life, I am drawing inspiration from the beauty of nature and the wonders of the universe. By incorporating these natural elements, cosmic themes and inspired messages, I aim to prompt individuals to think more deeply about their needs,” she continues.

Omi also draws inspiration from daily reflections and cultural outgrowths like books, music, movies or travel. She says the mural in PMQ is inspired by a book she bought in London. It was a notebook for introspection, she shares.

Creative Journeying

Bo Law, 40, of Po Lam, studied graphic design after graduating from high school.

He started collaborating with HKWALLS in 2018 and says he has been “thrilled” to collaborate with a professional mural organization.

His artwork along the side of PMQ measures 20m wide x 0.5m high and reflects his “journey of seeking change”.

According to Law, the entire creative journey can be divided into four stages: 1. The first stage involves piecing together an imagined image with whimsical ideas; 2. The second stage focuses on learning to depict realistic images; 3. The third stage marks the beginning of creating a personal style based on ideas, assembling images from fragments; and 4. The fourth stage represents my current creative style, which leans towards imagination rather than reality after all these years.

“There will be a mixture of artists: local and international, the latter including those brought over by consulates and entities such as the Alliance Francaise and Goethe Institute, as well as artists brought in by the Hong Kong Tourism Board from Hong Kong, the Greater Bay Area, and internationally.

According to Dembski, HKWALLS will occupy the courtyard with eight temporary murals, including a few that have already been completed and other artworks in progress.

In addition, they will be taking over 12 unoccupied rooms within the compound, each identical in layout and of an approximate 300 sq ft. These will be taken over by galleries showing group or solo exhibitions; and there will also be workshops for community engagement.“There were 600 artist applicants for this year’s edition,” shares Dembski, “around the same as last year and up from a few years prior. Past applicants have hailed from places as far-flung as Czechia, Ireland and America.

And what of the walls that will feature their artworks? How does that work?

“There’s a DONATE A WALL button on our website,” shares Dembski, “but most are procured through cold calling and through individual owners as opposed to developers; and tenants.”

As for the artists, Dembski says that this year there has been a push to bring things down a notch: pairing artists with youth who may never have painted a wall (as part of their Youth Mentorship programme) and a return to include more street art graffiti artists who can adapt to the context, rather than only paint large murals; and artists who are willing to work with imperfect spaces. “A week before the event, walls will be cleaned by our volunteers to be paint-ready,” Dembski shares.

It’s a win for restaurateurs, shop owners and residents who needn’t fork out a cent for original art and a hurrah for art and creativity, in general, especially in the eyes of those who believe art belongs to everyone and should be knocked off its high-culture pedestal. “A sketch is submitted by the artist to HKWALLS and the wall parties, but there is no back and forth, because then they would have to pay the Artist,” Dembski says.

Making an already very exciting lineup pop, is the two-year old digital walls initiative. For their third year, HKWALLS will take over two digital panels in East Tsim Sha Tsui, and as of this year, two big screen in Kai Tak, showing the work of five to six artists across all the displays.

This year, French artist Hopare who creates hung fabric art in Lisbon where he now lives, has collaborated with HKWALLS who will hang large fabric artworks of former residents and current tenants of PMQ, marking it as the home base for the ten-year anniversary of HKWALLS 2025.

Ranging from individuals in their 20s and 30s who used to visit their grandparents there, to those who used to live there themselves, the project it is an important nod to the past in a city that has been hell-bent on looking forwards.

HKWALLS
Staunton, 5/F S513,

35 Aberdeen Street, Central.

By Appointment Only.