HKBU Visual Arts graduate from the Class of 2017 Miss Calla Lui Chu-ying’s honour project work entitled Painting, Series 1 took the third place of the Hong Kong National Award in the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards.

Calla is very interested in the experimental process of photographic imaging. She focuses on questioning her own essence of painting and photography. She said, “By employing a mixed-media method, I have been exploring the integration and boundaries between photographic imaging and painting to force my personal artistic breakthrough. Using camera-less processes, I used clay to mold all of my own painting tools, and used the cast as the mixed-media pigment to paint my own observation impressions of the continuous movement of water, and to expose it onto large sheets of photographic paper. Through visualising the traces into visible form, the resulting images transformed the inkblot of clay into my mindscapes for spirituality beyond a series of photographs, and it is a valuable camera-less painting.”

Through the creation process, her artworks explored and experimented with the possibilities of camera-less photography and painting in terms of both the medium and the aesthetic.

Calla is currently a visual arts teacher in a secondary school and a visual arts artist based in Hong Kong. After she graduated, she has never stopped creating art. She said, “The Sony World Photography Awards is an affirmation of my artistic breakthrough in camera-less photography and painting. I think my success lies not only in creating an extraordinary masterpiece, but also in developing the next generation of artists in Hong Kong.”

The Sony World Photography Awards is one of the leading photography competitions. This year, around 320,000 entries from amateurs and professionals from around the world were received.
 
Painting, Series 1 will be showcased in Somerset House, London from 20 April to 6 May 2018. This artwork also won the Academy of Visual Arts Keeper of Studies Collection Award in 2017, and was showcased in the Fresh Trend 2017 Art Graduates Joint Exhibition at chi K11 Art Space in Hong Kong.