Mike Lau

The Resistance

"The Resistance" is an on-going multimedia series based on Hong Kong Protest starting from 2019. It's created to send support and pay tribute to the protesters who stand out to fight against social injustice, political corruption and violent suppression of peaceful protests around the world."The Resistance" series is a mixture of documentary, installation and performance. It is currently formed by 4 independent parts: "Progress of Resistance"; "Cell of Silent Screams" (work in progress); "Shadow of Smoke" and; "After a Battle".

“2019 was a year of social unrest and conflicts. Hong Kong, the place I was born in, has been facing the largest political turmoil since the 1997 handover from the United Kingdom to People's Republic of China. It stemmed from a controversial law amendment: The Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019. Instead of engaging in dialogue with the general public, the government decided to suppress protests in an excessive and unlawful way. Police forces were, and still are, authorized/allowed to suppress protests by brutal beatings, improper operation of riot control weapons, and even live round shootings. Protesters were forced to fight back by returning ignited tear gas and throwing rocks. Molotov cocktails, a weapon that’s never been used in Hong Kong in history, finally appeared on the street. Meanwhile, similar social crises also arose in other parts of the world, such as Ecuador, Indonesia, Iraq, Peru and Venezuela. When the power of a government cannot be effectively regulated and bound by the public, it almost always results in the authorities’ unbalanced and/or absolute power, and their tendency to ignore demands and suppress protests from the opposition, without their getting any kind of reprimand. What oppositions were facing is not just the rising limitation of freedom of expression, more than that is the increasing risk of their own safety. Many of them were forced to choose either stepping down or fighting back.The Resistance is a series to send my support and pay tribute to the protesters who stand out to fight against social injustice, political corruption and violent suppression of peaceful protests. The challenges protesters faced on the street were shown using different medium and art forms. The self-portrait series “Progress of Resistance” showed a transformation of protest along with a growing suppression from government, from peacefully marching with sign and banner, to resisting and fighting back by throwing rocks and molotov cocktails. The butoh dance “Cell of Silent Screams” illustrated the protester's pain and helplessness under suppression and the rising limitation of their freedom of expression, also their shouts at social injustice. The cut out “Shadow of Smoke” was a documentary photo-based image which recorded a scene of protest that took place in Hong Kong last August. It showed how protesters reacted under tear gas by extinguishing the canister or throwing it back. The installation “After a Battle” displayed numerous tubes - an imitation of tear gas and rubber bullet shell. It represented the huge number of tear gas deployed to disperse protesters. Tear gas is a basic weapon for suppressing protest.I hope my piece can draw the public's attention, to make them pay more attention to political topics not just in their countries but worldwide. Facing tyranny, protesters decided to step forward rather than compromise. Millions of people are still living in fear under a lack of freedom, injustice, poverty, corruption and bullets on the Earth. I wish, by looking through my piece, my audience knows the right side to stand on, when one day they unfortunately face the same situation.”