I started photographing back in 2014 when I took a one-way flight to Africa to document Chinese infrastructure for a year. Since then, I have drawn on my practice in architecture to explore themes that engender land development, territory, globalisation, absence, and memory. Besides photography, I also use other mediums such as writing, space, mapping, and found material.
Currently, I'm working on Searching for Poon, which retraces my grandmother's journey from mainland China, imagining her past in present-day Hong Kong as she loses her memory; New Territories (published by Asia One, 2022), explores the changing landscape of Hong Kong’s northern frontier, re-thinking notions of territory, development, time, and the legacies of colonialism; Burning is a series of books made of incense paper that are created and burned, critiquing the relationship between ritual and belief.
Past projects include the Graham Foundation funded Urban Africa, Made in China which document Chinese development throughout Africa and its impact on Africa's urban future; Black Mountain, Red Earth chronicles the collapse of mining towns and the emergence of the multinational mining industry in the Zambian Copperbelt.
I am formerly trained in architecture with past experience at Herzog & de Meuron and Office for Metropolitan Architecture.
I currently work between New York and Hong Kong.
2014年，許慕義的攝影之旅始於一張前往東非的單程機票。這一整年的時間，他游歷亞撒哈拉，用影像記錄在全球化背景下，中國企業如何參與到東非地區史無前例的建設熱潮。
過此以往，他將建築與城市理論延展至學科邊界之外。同時，藉由文獻研究、地圖術、既成物等攝影之外的創作手法, 從關註土地發展、全球化等課題，探討更深層次的意義——關於在場、記憶、與缺席。他畢業於康乃爾大學建築學系，為美國註冊建築師，涉獵範圍涵蓋視覺藝術、學術研究及建築理論。
info@justin-hui.com
Education
MSc(RE) in Real Estate, University of Hong Kong, 2019
B.Arch in Architecture, Cornell University, 2011
Exhibition
“Unsettled Ground 未定之境”, 18th International Architecture Exhibition–La Biennale di Venezia, “Transformative Hong Kong”, 20 May - 23 November, 2023, Venice, Italy
"Hong Kong Coastal Trail Challenge", 05 - 19 January, 2023, WMA Gallery, Hong Kong
"New Territories", 04 November - 28 December, 2022, Hong Kong International Photo Festival (HKIPF) Satellite Exhibition
"Searching for Poon", November 04 - 24, 2022, GFX Challenge Grant Program 2021, Fujifilm Square, Tokyo
October, 2021, Ocean Table x Perrier-Jouët / Tasting Kitchen, Hong Kong
“At Last Light: Justin Hui x Jaakko Sorsa”, July 2021, Ocean Table, Hong Kong
“At Last Light”, May - June, 2021, Miss No Order, Hong Kong
To be Continued, 20 August - 09 October, 2021, Sin Sin Fine Art, Hong Kong
Africa-China Journalists Forum & Photo Exhibition, November 2018, Johannesburg, South Africa
Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, 2015 for "Urban Africa, Made in China"
Lectures
“Fluid Ground - Stories of Transformation”, Dr. Paolo Zaide, Transformative Hong Kong, 18th International Architecture Exhibition-La Biennale di Venezia, May 20, 2023
"Rethinking Territory along the Northern Border”, Society for Hong Kong Studies x WMA, February 10, 2023, Hong Kong
“Temporal and Spatial Dynamics in the Urban History of Hong Kong”, Prof. Shuo Ha, Department of History and Chinese at CityU HK, April 04, 2023
“Between Landscapes”, The Politics and Poetics of Infrastructure, February 20, 2023, University of Hong Kong Division of Landscape Architecture
"Rethinking Territory along the Northern Border”, Society for Hong Kong Studies x WMA, February 10, 2023, Hong Kong
"New Territories", HART Hong Kong, December 17, 2022
“Image Making and Re-Enactment: Beyond Territories and Boundaries” Moderated by Christine Lee with Law Yuk Mui and Natalie Lo Lo Lai, 10 December 2022, Kino Cinema, Eaton Hotel
"Photography Book Talk and Fair", Asia One Tower, December 03, 2022, Hong Kong
"Framing Territories: Beyond Memoirs and Ruins", Moderated by Christine Lee with Lau Chi Chung, Erica Chung, and Justin Hui, December 2, 2022, Kubrick, Hong Kong
"New Territories", Collective Studio, 25 November, 2022, Hong Kong
“New Territories”, ULI Hong Kong YLG: Re-injecting Purpose into Real Estate - Northern Metropolis, November 24, 2022, Urban Land Institute, Hong Kong
“Exploring different ways of using photography: a talk with HKIPF 2022 Satellite Exhibitors”, November 12, 2022, Hong Kong
“Mind the Mind”, April 24, 2021, Global Shapers Community Hong Kong, World Economic Forum, Hong Kong
“From Africa to Hong Kong: Thinking through Images ”, The Politics and Poetics of Infrastructure, March 28, Spring 2022, University of Hong Kong Division of Landscape Architecture
“Decoding Visual Structures in Photography”, The International Symposium for Visual Culture (ISVC) 2022, March 26th, 2022 Gimpo, South Korea
"Urban Africa and its Culture of Re-appropriation”, Vulnerabilities and power relations in China’s engagement in the global south, Development Days 2022: Infrastructures, technologies, and vulnerabilities in global development, Finnish Society for Development Research, Helsinki, Finland, 17 - 18 February, 2022
“Urban Africa, Made in China”, COLLECTIVE, Hong Kong, June 04, 2021
“Architecture Cook Along”, Asia-Pacific Leadership Conference, Cornell University, Hong Kong, 16 April, 2021
“Black Mountain, Red Earth”, The Politics and Poetics of Infrastructure, 23 March 2021, University of Hong Kong Division of Landscape Architecture
“China’s World Cities”, Transfer: Diffusions and Mobilities in the Built Landscapes of Asia and Beyond, University of Hong Kong Department of Architecture, 31 May to 01 June, 2019
“Visualising Africa-China: Directions in Photography and Perspective”, Africa-China Journalists Forum 2018, Johannesburg, South Africa, November 1, 2018
“Urban Africa, Made in China”, China-Africa in Global Comparative Perspective, Universite Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium, June 27, 2018
“Africa-China: Mapping an Emergent Axis”, AUHI, Faculty of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, March 30, 2018
Grants
Hong Kong Arts Development Council Grant for "Searching for Poon", 2023
Grant for the 18th Venice Biennale International Architecture Exhibition, The Hong Kong Exhibition 2023, namely The Hong Kong Institute of Architects Biennale Foundation 2023
Hong Kong International Photo Festival (HKIPF) Satellite Exhibition Grant for "New Territories", 2022
Fujifilm GFX Challenge Grant - Regional Grant Award, for "Searching for Poon", 2022
Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture of Shenzhen and Hong Kong Exhibition Grant, Hong Kong, for "Urban Africa, Made in China", 2015
Graham Foundation Research and Development Grant, for "Urban Africa, Made in China", 2014
Robert Eidlitz Travel Fellowship, Cornell University, for "Offshore Urbanism in the Zambian Copperbelt", 2013
Awards
First Prize for Best Thesis, Charles Goodwin Sands Memorial Silver Medal, Cornell University, 2012 for "Transfer"
Silver in Other/Feature Story, Prix de la Photographie Paris PX3, “Vessels”, 2021
Bronze in Fine Art/Landscape, Prix de la Photographie Paris PX3, “At Last Light”, 2021
First Place, Royal Geographic Society John McDermott Photography Competition Masterclass, 2017
Finalist, ONE Prize Design and Science International Competition, 2013
Urban Intervention Category, D3 Unbuilt Visions International Architecture Competition, 2012
First Place, Piranesi: An Interpretation of the Prison Series Design Competition, 2010
Finalist, ACSA Re-thinking Salk Institute International Design Competition, 2010
Finalist, KPF Travelling Fellowship, 2010
Watts Family Rome Scholar, 2010
H. Roy Kelley Scholar, 2009
Rose Mendez Memorial Scholar, 2009
First Place, NOMA National Student Design Team Competition, 2008
First Place, Edwin E. Seipp Memorial Design Competition, Cornell University, 2008
Publications and Articles
Books
Hui, Justin. New Territories 界. Hong Kong, Asia One Books, November 2022
Press and Articles
"【新界東北】藝術家探新界廢墟尋舊物 以攝影重塑被迫遷村民與土地的情感 提問北部發展：香港應擁抱更具遠見的規劃", MPW Weekly, April 27, 2023
Nowness Asia [@Nownessasia]. Featured photos from series “New Territories” Instagram, 28 April, 2023, https://www.instagram.com/p/CrlKxfBNs5v/
"HKFP Lens: Reimagining borders and finding meaning in Hong Kong’s New Territories", Hong Kong Free Press, 4 December, 2022
"攝影師許慕義：新界之北，到底發生過什麼事", Nathanotes, November 27, 2022
"鄉郊變遷 消失中的新界北風景", Metropop, November 06,
Jet Magazine, Issue 243, pg. 102 - 109, November, 2022,
Ming Pao Weekly, November 15, 2022
就係香港 Being Hong Kong, November 3, 2022
Art Mate Life, November 13, 2022,
HK Feature, November 01, 2022
SCMP, November 19, 2022
Nowness Asia [@Nownessasia]. Featured photos from series “Urban Africa, Made in China.” Instagram, 29 May, 2021, https://www.instagram.com/p/CPZw25_gjgh/
Hui, Justin. “Urban Africa, Made in China, 非洲城,中國製造”, 2016. Print.
Photography appears in
Lee, Ching Kwan. The Specter of Global China: Politics, Labor, and Foreign Investment in Africa. The University of Chicago Press, 2017.
Articles and Chapters
Hui, Justin. "Global Towns in the New Copperbelt." MONU: Transnational Urbanism 22 (2015): 3841
Hui, Justin. "Deconstructing the Death Star." CLOG:SCIFI (2013): 11011. Print.
Hui, Justin “Locomotive City”, LUNCH8: Futures for Sites Unknown (June 2013)
“In Progress: Thom Mayne Studio”, Cornell AAP Newsletter 07, (November 2009).
“On Landscape and Architecture: Interview with Michael Manfredi”, Association Vol. 4, (June 2010)
“Interview with Pezo von Ellrichshausen Architects”, Association Vol. 4, (April 2010)
Books edited
Association Volume 4, Spring 2010 (Cornell AAP), as Editor in Chief
Association Volume 3, Spring 2008 (Cornell AAP), as Editor
Association Volume 2, Spring 2006 (Cornell AAP), as Editor