In traditional Cantonese funerals, when one passed on, the dead souls of the deceased will be escorted by the “law enforcer, bull head and horse face” (牛頭馬面) to face judgement from the ten kings of the netherworld. “Breaking the Hell’s Gate”, to lead the dead souls of the deceased to leave the netherworld and enter into reincarnation.
[Po3 dei6 juk6] is a representation of the layers of disembodied trauma felt among the people of the Hong Kong diaspora. It is a life and death ritual of the “Heung1 Gong2 Yan4” [1] identity. It is a culmination of recollections and traditions we grew up with, especially those lost in memory. The circuit of gestures, objects, and smells are the formation of identity and collective memory. While traces of the past fall into an archive of forgotten imagery, I would like to pluck fragments out of our historical “archive”, and represent them as a potential confrontation of our future.
[1] Heung1 Gong2 Yan4: Jyutping pronunciation of 香港人, Hong Kong people