Still There - Free as a Bird

• Photographer
  Max Chan
• Technical Info
  Cyanotype On Watercolour Paper, With Hand Printed Chinese Seal Carvings (3 Pieces)
• Photo Date
  2024

There’s a Chinese philosophy that the sky’s like circle with movement and the land’s like square with stability. They balance each other. I use the idea with cyanotype and origami images to make the sky and birds. The seal carving’s my signature and the three-word one means ‘Still There’. Cyanotype’s a sustainable photographic process that was invented in the UK in 1842, the same year when Hong Kong became British colony till 1997. Making cyanotype with oriental aesthetics echoes my hybrid identity as Hongkonger. 'Free as a Bird' is The Beatles’ hit. It’s time to appreciate the beauty.