The Umbrella Movement of 2014: Urban surrealism in protest movements

A student walks through an empty street at night, filming only her shadow. Briefly she comes across a passerby, then a young woman wearing a face mask sitting against a traffic barrier. It isn't long before the woman holding the camera comes across a wall of signs. They're hastily written, but express a centuries old desire. In different languages, a singular message is conveyed: Free Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is in the midst of a democratic crisis. The encroaching influence of the Chinese Communist Party threatens not only the survival of Hong Kong democracy, but also the existence of the island itself. Student-led democracy movements in Hong Kong are once again in the spotlight with the ongoing Umbrella Uprising which received major attention in 2019. However, current media coverage may easily overlook the long-term struggle for democracy in Hong Kong, one that began when one foreign colonial power transferred control of the island to a domestic one.

British colonial rule limited suffrage for Hong Kong, only being able to elect their governors starting in the late 1980s [1]. The handover of Hong Kong to mainland China only worsened the people's predicament. The passage of a 2014 Beijing law requiring candidates for Chief Executive must be screened beforehand by the CCP led to a series of occupations across the city. The movement it inspired would be called the Umbrella Movement.

Vicky Do, a Vietnamese activist and artist living in Hong Kong at the time, filmed herself walking through the streets at night. She chose to focus on her shadow, making each shot feel isolating despite being filmed in one of the most densely populated cities on Earth. There's a sense of surrealism when watching Do's footage. It's by no means a professional documentary. It doesn't even have a coherent subject matter. Yet, every shot is compelling. Hong Kong, despite its fame and iconic skyline, is empty even melancholy. There's signs of life in the background of each scene. The roar of a bustling urban metropolis reminds the viewer there is in fact life in this city. Somehow, we rarely see these people. Few shots of Hong Kongers going about their day. Protesters with their head down and exhausted. Buildings filled with offices loom over the sky, watching down on the calming chaos below.

Do's depiction of the 2014 Umbrella Movement reminds us of the aftermath of demonstrations. Once the international journalists return home and the cameras are put away, there is still a struggle for democracy and freedom. Do's videos capture that surreal moment in time where, in the midst of protest chants and tear gas going off, is nothing but a city. One where you don't need to see its people to understand its desire for freedom.

Source:

1. "Touching a nerve: a discussion on Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement," Klavier Jieying Wang et al., from Protest Camps in International Context: Spaces, Infrastructures and Media of Resistance (Bristol University Press; Policy Press), http://www.jstor.com/stable/j.ctt1t89745.12.