ARROW LAI Siu-Wai

ARROW LAI Siu-Wai is a printmaker from Hong Kong. He works primarily with woodcuts and presents them in the forms of prints, moving images, and videos. His printmaking practice focuses on exploring self-identity as a Hong Konger in relationship with the everyday happenings and engagements in his society. 

Arrow graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Hon) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) in Visual Arts at Hong Kong Baptist University in 2016. His works have been exhibited internationally in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, India and Spain, including Bainbridge Open 2023 at ASC Gallery, Third Floor at Royal College of Art, Two Fold at Southwark Park Galler, Fleeting Moment at Fine Liquids Art Gallery, Impact 11 at Hong Kong Open Printshop.

After graduation, Arrow is going to teach printmaking art at the Education University of Hong Kong as a full-time lecturer.

Since studying abroad, Arrow has been reflecting on his own identity as a Hong Konger. He is interested in observing how the fast-changing society has shaped and defined his identity in Hong Kong. In A Fleeting Moment, he continues to explore this idea and realise his confused feelings towards his sense of belonging through the happenings by using the metaphor of contrasting forms of art techniques and the nature of fireworks as being rapidly changing. The visuals of the prints are from captured screens in the television firework displays every year on the national celebration day from 1997 to 2021. 

For the main body of work, he uses woodcut, which is a classical printmaking technique and communication tool that people acquired to spread information in ancient times, to complete this set of prints. In contrast, he displays the documentary of prints by using the form of moving images, which is a relatively modern technology used to spread information on the internet. He reflects on the public spectacle of shared identity through video archives of television programs, allowing himself to gaze at a fleeting moment before the fireworks explode. He creates a sense of a visual impact that speaks of the tension between a beautiful moment and the anticipation changes of the firework.