I started making images 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 topics about land, borders, globalisation, and memory. Besides photography, I work with the book form, writing, drawings, model making, 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 and the colonial gaze; Burning critiques ritual and belief with the burning of books made of joss paper.
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.
Trained in architecture, I am a registered architect 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。
Features
REconnect // 忘了，忘不了, Being Hong Kong
一只脚跨过边界，往前还是往后? NOWNESS
REseek // 界在那裡，家在哪裡”, Mapping the Old New World 舊界新界, Being Hong Kong
"攝影師許慕義：新界之北，到底發生過什麼事", Nathanotes
【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 Ming Pao Weekly
北部變遷 廢村志異 攝影師遊走新界成影像拾荒者：「要在推土機到來前捕捉瞬間即逝的事物。」Ming Pao Weekly
Hong Kong at Venice Biennale 2023: sustainable, humane architecture to the fore as designers explore future of city at a crossroads South China Morning Post
New photo exhibition captures a New Territories in flux South China Morning Post
HKFP Lens: Reimagining borders and finding meaning in Hong Kong’s New Territories - Hong Kong Free Press
Selections from New Territories 界 by Justin Hui Nowness Asia
Urban Africa, Made in China Nowness Asia
就係香港 Being Hong Kong
Natural Wonders Tasting Kitchen
Exhibition
Hello Thank You Come In: 50th Anniversary Members Exhibition
18 January - 30 April, 2024
Center for Book Arts, New York
Space on Paper: Jimei x Arles Book Exhibition
15 December - 21 January, 2024
Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Xiamen
Unsettled Ground 未定之境, Transformative Hong Kong
20 May - 23 November, 2023
La Biennale di Venezia, Venice
44:33 - A Photographic Exhibition of 15 Global Photographers
06 September - 30 October
FUJIFILM House of Photography, London
Independent / Underground publications by Chinese-speaking Creators
15 - 16 September, 2023
Rehearsal Art Book Fair, New York
New Territories 界
05 November - 28 December, 2022
Hong Kong International Photo Festival Satellite Exhibition (HKIPF), Hong Kong
Hong Kong Coastal Trail Challenge
05 - 19 January, 2023
WMA Space, Hong Kong
Searching for Poon - GFX Challenge Grant Program 2021
04 - 24 November, 2022
Fujifilm Square, Tokyo
Visual Culture 2022
16 March - 03 April, 2022
CICA Museum, South Korea
To be Continued
21 August - 09 October, 2021
Sin Sin Fine Art, Hong Kong
The Art of Revealing Nature
01 October - 01 November, 2021
Ocean Table x Perrier-Jouët, Hong Kong
At Last Light
01 May - 01 June, 2021
Miss No Order, Hong Kong
Africa-China Journalists Forum & Photo Exhibition
01 November, 2018
Wits Centre for Journalism, Johannesburg
Visions 2050: Lifestyle and the City
20 December 2015 - 10 March,2016
Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture of Shenzhen and Hong Kong
Lectures
2023
“Searching for Poon - Book Launch”, HART Haus, Hong Kong, December 20
“Visualizing Africa China”, Wits Africa-China Reporting Project Photo Exhibition, Johannesburg, November 21
“Black Mountain, Red Earth”, Doctalks x MoMA, October 31, The Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and the Natural Environment, New York
“Beyond Drawings: Fieldwork from Urban Africa”, ARCH 5110/6110 Advanced Architectural Design Studio, Chinese University of Hong Kong, November 09
“Fluid Ground - Stories of Transformation”, Dr. Paolo Zaide, May 20, Transformative Hong Kong, 18th International Architecture Exhibition-La Biennale di Venezia, Venice
"Rethinking Territory along the Northern Border”, Society for Hong Kong Studies x WMA, February 10, Hong Kong
“Temporal and Spatial Dynamics in the Urban History of Hong Kong”, April 04, Prof. Shuo Ha, Department of History and Chinese at CityU, Hong Kong
“Between Landscapes”, The Politics and Poetics of Infrastructure, February 20, University of Hong Kong Division of Landscape Architecture
"Rethinking Territory along the Northern Border”, Society for Hong Kong Studies x WMA, February 10, Hong Kong
2022
"New Territories", December 17, HART, Hong Kong
“Image Making and Re-Enactment: Beyond Territories and Boundaries” Moderated by Christine Lee with Law Yuk Mui and Natalie Lo Lo Lai, 10 December, Kino Cinema, Eaton Hotel, Hong Kong
"Photography Book Talk and Fair", Asia One Tower, 03 December, Hong Kong
"Framing Territories: Beyond Memoirs and Ruins", Moderated by Christine Lee with Lau Chi Chung, Erica Chung, and Justin Hui, 02 December, Kubrick, Hong Kong
"New Territories", Collective Studio, 25 November, Hong Kong
“New Territories”, ULI Hong Kong YLG: Re-injecting Purpose into Real Estate - Northern Metropolis, November 24, Urban Land Institute, Hong Kong
“Exploring different ways of using photography: a talk with HKIPF 2022 Satellite Exhibitors”, November 12, Hong Kong
“From Africa to Hong Kong: Thinking through Images ”, The Politics and Poetics of Infrastructure, Spring 202, March 28, University of Hong Kong Division of Landscape Architecture, Hong Kong
“Decoding Visual Structures in Photography”, The International Symposium for Visual Culture (ISVC) 2022, March 26th, 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, , 17 - 18 February, Finnish Society for Development Research, Helsinki, Finland
2021
“Mind the Mind”, April 24, Global Shapers Community Hong Kong, World Economic Forum, Hong Kong
“Urban Africa, Made in China”, COLLECTIVE, June 04, Hong Kong
“Architecture Cook Along”, Asia-Pacific Leadership Conference, Cornell University, 16 April, Hong Kong
“Black Mountain, Red Earth”, The Politics and Poetics of Infrastructure, 23 March, University of Hong Kong Division of Landscape Architecture, Hong Kong
2019
“China’s World Cities”, Transfer: Diffusions and Mobilities in the Built Landscapes of Asia and Beyond, 31 May to 01 June, University of Hong Kong Department of Architecture, Hong Kong
2018
“Visualising Africa-China: Directions in Photography and Perspective”, Africa-China Journalists Forum 2018, November 1, Johannesburg, South Africa
“Urban Africa, Made in China”, China-Africa in Global Comparative Perspective, June 27, Universite Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
2017
“Africa-China: Mapping an Emergent Axis”, AUHI, Faculty of Architecture, 23 May, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Grants
Hong Kong Arts Development Council, Publication Grant, 2023
The Hong Kong Institute of Architects Biennale Foundation for 18th Venice Biennale International Architecture Exhibition, 2023
Hong Kong International Photo Festival (HKIPF) Satellite Exhibition, Exhibition Grant, 2022
Fujifilm GFX Challenge, Regional Grant Award, 2022
Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, Exhibition Grant, Hong Kong, 2015
Graham Foundation Institute for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Research and Development Grant, 2014
Robert Eidlitz Travel Fellowship, Cornell University, 2013
Awards
Charles Goodwin Sands Memorial Silver Medal, Cornell University, 2012
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
Hui, Justin. Searching for Poon. Hong Kong, Self Published, December 2023
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
Education
MSc(RE) in Real Estate, University of Hong Kong, 2019
B.Arch in Architecture, Cornell University, 2011
Registration
Registered Architect in State of Massachusetts, USA