消失中的標誌
A closed down restaurant and retail shop reveal an historic Ghost Sign in Jordan, Hong Kong in April 2023. 粵興公司 (Yuet Hing Company) used to deal in electronic scales, paper, printing products and printing services at this location at 15 Nanking Street. They still exist but they’ve moved over about seven blocks west, leaving behind this sign which was written by the calligrapher, 黄維瑁 (Huang Weichang or Wong Wai Cheong).Professor Wong was born in 1901 or 1902 and was quite a big name in the Chinese calligraphy world. He died in 1993 but his works live on in the collections of the Hong Kong Museum of Art @hkmoa . They’ve appeared in at least three exhibitions there: “Hong Kong Calligraphy” (1990), “Modern Chinese Painting and Calligraphy from the Taiyilou Collection” (1991) and “Fragrance of Ink and Vermillion” (1999).The Professor seems to have specialised in Clerical Script (隸書), which tends to be used in Hong Kong signage when somebody wants to give a feeling of gravitas or something of the old world. Businesses and institutions that might favour Clerical Script would be schools, stationery stores and, perhaps, printers.Photo Credit: Ben Marans
A faded Dairy Farm Ghost Sign in Aberdeen, Hong Kong, in June 2023. While photographing the enormous Good Companion Cigarettes Ghost Sign, we found this beauty haunting the former Dairy Farm ice manufacturing and cold storage facility next door - the remnants of a painted sign bearing the company’s old corporate identity.Dairy Farm started operating in 1886, not far from this Ghost Sign, in Pok Fu Lam. The location was removed enough from Hong Kong’s slums while still close to Central. The company’s founder, Patrick Manson, a specialist in hygiene and tropical medicine, helped start what would become the Faculty of Medicine at HKU. After World War II, Dairy Farm would expand into a corporate empire of cold storage, food wholesale, supermarket retail, and more.In 1984, Dairy Farm engaged @steiner.co_hk to freshen up their logo. Up until that point, the company had been using what we can see in the Ghost Sign - something better suited to a 1950s diner.The update that Steiner created is now so ubiquitous that hardly anyone appreciates how remarkable the word mark is for being perfectly bilingual. Neither Chinese nor English takes precedence and each is a perfect counterpart to the other without compromising the graphic’s integrity.“It’s a matter of communication. A matter of respect for the Chinese written language.” Says Steiner, who doesn’t speak or read Chinese yet creates some of the most enduring Chinese language graphics around.Photo credit: Ben Marans
A Ghost Sign for a car body repair shop rests atop that of a restobar in Tai Hang, Hong Kong, as seen in March 2023.The Tai Hang neighbourhood has a storied history of transitioning from a poor, secluded area to a service depot to a dragon festival mainstay to a hipster enclave. Photo credit: Ben Marans
The Hing Wai Ice & Cold Storage Co. Ltd. building in Aberdeen, Hong Kong with a faded Ghost Sign of Good Companion Cigarettes as seen in February 2023. Cigarette ads were ubiquitous across Hong Kong before they were banned in the 1990s as a public health policy.Photo credit: Ben Marans
從香港獨特的城市景觀看到若隱若現的 Ghost Signs (消失中的標誌), 包涵各式美麗而有性格， 顏色鮮明的書法。 讓我們看到點點滴滴，漸漸消失的過去，各種曾經流行一時的社區及商業活動。
從香港獨特的城市景觀看到若隱若現的 Ghost Signs (消失中的標誌), 包涵各式美麗而有性格， 顏色鮮明的書法。 讓我們看到點點滴滴，漸漸消失的過去，各種曾經流行一時的社區及商業活動。
這些在香港消失中的標誌是歷史的記錄。這些人工製品記載着中國書法，及本地廣告標牌繪畫的技術，是我們寶貴的集體記憶。
這創作是保存及記錄香港消失中的標誌Ghost Signs 的第一次先例。在為香港社會的進步和興旺而自豪的同時，我們聯手說出這個逐漸消失又引人入勝的本地舊日文化色彩。通過閱讀，步行遊覧，在線互動程式，本項會吸引更多香港人去發掘及記載我們的歴史特色。
- 2022
- 成功申請人: Ben Marans and Billy Potts
Ben Marans 是一位專注於人類和地球的故事講述者。作為一位專業攝影師，Ben 花了無數個小時穿越香港這個城市，用他的照片顯示出香港的特色 Ben 用他的熱情講述那些致力於建立更好社區的人的故事。 Ben 是香港攝影記者協會的認可會員，他經常為 SOPA Images 拍攝。
Billy Potts 是一位香港土生土長的作家和設計師。他對本土的歷史文化特別感情。十多年來，Billy一直在撰寫關於這個中西匯集的大城小市的故事。 Billy 是 Handsome Co. 和 Watt Studio 的創始人，這兩家設計事務所專注於香港的文化遺產。