The Works：Chinese seal artist Thomas Kong, photography by Chun Wai@HKU Museum & in the studio: The Y

Later in this week’s show, a trio of players from the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts will tell us about a series of unconventional chamber music recitals that’s running from the end of this month to October at the Xiqu Centre Tea House Theatre. But before we head to that Chinese tea house to hear Western chamber music, we’re going to look at a Chinese tradition in the studio of seal artist Thomas Kong. Kong might use traditional seal carving techniques and red ink, or cinnabar paste, in his works, but he also incorporates many contemporary elements and styles.

Photographer Chun Wai studied at the Ecole superieure dex beaux-arts de Mulhouse in France. He returned to Hong Kong to work in 1993, but during his time in France in the 1980s and 1990s, he took many photographs of the streets and alleys of Paris, including its museums, galleries, and flea markets. He says the experience taught him that as an art, even photography is subject to the effects of time. On show at the University of Hong Kong Museum and Art Gallery until the end of September as part of Le French May Arts Festival, “Adrift in Time” is an exhibition of photographs and images of France that have been stored away for thirty years. Some of the negatives have deteriorated to the point that the original images are no longer recognisable. They have become tangible illustrations of the passing of time.