Enacting care: Feminist interventions and social activism in the work of Hong Kong artist Jaffa Lam

Abstract

This article focuses on the intersectionality of feminist interventions and social activism in the works by Hong Kong artist Jaffa Lam (b. 1973). Using the dialogical aesthetics approach, Lam engages with people of disenfranchised groups and collaborates with them to produce installations and public participatory works. While the works aim to build relations between art and local communities, they also consider the profound social-cultural changes in Hong Kong and reflect on the city’s identity through exploring the notions of gender, class, migration and language. Through interacting with collaborators and audience participants of various regions, generations and social-economic backgrounds, Lam creates space for dialogues, enacting care, building valuable relations and questioning the hierarchies of value attributions in neo-liberal society.