The Works：Cartoonist & illustrator Joan Cornellà, chameleon artist Ming Wong, Pompeii & Denise Ho's

If you were near Fort Street in North Point last weekend, you might have seen a long queue on the street. It wasn’t for ice cream, cold drinks, or a bargain, but for the first solo exhibition by Spanish cartoonist Joan Cornella in Hong Kong. Joan is known for his dark humour, surreal and often gory, six panel comic stripes. His flight here had been delayed by 24 hours, but he did find time to speak to us after arriving last Thursday.
While Joan Cornella creates a world of characters, Singaporean artist Ming Wong puts himself in practically every role in his videos and installations. He takes on both male and female roles of different ages and races. And the world of cinema is often his source of inspiration.
One day in the second half of AD 79, Mount Vesuvius, which had been dormant for 800 years, erupted. The eruption engulfed the Roman towns of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabiae, Oplontis and Boscoreale. The residents of Herculaneum were relatively lucky. Most had time to leave the city in the early stages. But the debris, scalding gases, and ashes moved directly towards Pompeii. Its inhabitants faced excruciating deaths. For centuries the city was largely forgotten, but today, like Herculaneum, Pompeii is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Italy’s most popular tourist attractions. Over two and a half million people visit every year. Here in Hong Kong, a current exhibition at the Museum of History takes visitors back to the moment a city died.
Last Sunday singer and activist Denise Ho restaged a concert for free, at the same time and same place as the one that had been cancelled by cosmetic company Lancome for “possible safety reasons”. The organiser says up to four thousand people filled the streets of Po Hing Fong in the heart of Sheung Wan. And, surprise, surprise, not only were they perfectly “safe”, the concert was held peacefully, with no protests and no police in sight.