Umbrella Revolution - Completed!

"Umbrella Revolution" is a watercolor painting that serves as a research and response piece. It addresses the British colonialism that took over Hong Kong from 1898 to 1997, as a result from the Opium War.

Britain influenced the very culture of Hong Kong during the 99 year lease from the architecture to public transport. Hong Kong adopted Victorian and Edwardian building styles as can be seen from the main building of the University of Hong Kong below.

The Hong Kong government adopted a constitutional monarchy form of governing. Furthermore, English and Chinese (mainly Cantonese and Mandarin) became the official languages of Hong Kong. Public transport also developed from British influences as seen through the construction of buses.

After the lease, Hong Kong was returned to China. The People's Republic of China decided to reform the Hong Kong government. Needless to say, the people resisted the change. In 2014, the general public started protesting which involved sit-ins and work strikes. The youth used social media to spread their message which quickly became viral around the world, especially after some protests became violent. This became known as the Umbrella Revolution through the use of the iconic yellow umbrella.

The purpose of this background information is to describe the chaotic political and cultural tension in Hong Kong as of this moment. To address this, I painted a scene from the protests using the yellow umbrella as a symbol of revolution. Through this, I wanted to create a feeling of hope, hope that the two diverse communities can realize how their intolerance of different political systems is creating so much hate that really isn't worth it.