STORIES OF MARKET: HONG KONG EVERYDAY LIVES IN COMICS
STORIES OF MARKET: HONG KONG EVERYDAY LIVES IN COMICS
Organiser: Hong Kong Arts Centre (Comix Home Base)
Venue Partner: Urban Renewal Authority
Participating Artists:
· CHOCOLATE RAIN BY PRUDENCE MAK 麥雅端
· ISATISSE 湯欣樂
Hong Kong Culture & History × Comix Innovation × Art Tech
The Hong Kong Arts Centre (Comix Home Base) (HKAC (CHB)) proudly presents a grand exhibition marking the 20th Anniversary of HKAC (CHB).
This brand-new exhibition Stories of Market: Hong Kong Everyday Lives in Comics, themed around Hong Kong IPs and their integration with the local community. It highlights the appeal of local original comics while weaving in the regional character, history and human stories of a century old market culture. Each participating comic artist has created a brand new short story inspired by the rich narratives of the century old Graham Market and its surrounding neighbourhood. The original IP characters of three artists—CHI-TAK LI, CHOCOLATE RAIN BY PRUDENCE MAK, and ISATISSE—will inhabit the Graham Street community through a variety of media, including comics, illustration, large scale sculpture and inflatable installations. The exhibition also includes AI generated animated shorts that bring the three IP characters to life as they move through the market’s iconic stalls, old lanes and historic buildings and interact with vendors, creating a vivid portrait of community life.
Central, as an international financial hub, is also a vital crossroads where East meets West. With growing interest among locals and tourists in cultural experiences of old city streets—especially in the collective memories of local history and people—and complemented by the completion of various conservation, revitalisation, and built environment enhancement projects in the district, this exhibition aims to leave a profound and touching cultural mark on Hong Kong through creative expression.
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STORIES OF MARKET: HONG KONG EVERYDAY LIVES IN COMICS EXHIBITION
Exhibition Period
· Date: 2 April – 5 May 2026
· Time: 10:00 AM-7:00 PM
· Venue: Activities Hall, B/F, The Hall (23 Peel Street, Central)
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Special Edition Exhibition Merchandise: ‘Green Stalls’ × Hong Kong IP Blind Box
‘Green Stalls’ is a project centred on the nostalgic and century-old Graham Market in Central, dedicated to promoting and preserving traditional outdoor market culture. A retro-style blind box featuring the original characters will also be launched, with two of the IP characters reimagined as street vendors selling local specialties and fresh ingredients, allowing visitors to take home a piece of Hong Kong’s unique memories.
About the Artists
CHI-TAK LI
Chi-tak Li began his career in the comics industry in 1982. He self-published Tong Men Shao Nian, a prominent title which rocketed him to fame in 1987. He has since developed a distinctive art style, creating his own visual world with eerily experimental works that broke genre rules. Li’s transmedia creations transcend the boundary of comics and expand into movies, experimental theatres, literature, pop music and sculptures. The poster that he created for Hong Kong (China) local sci-fi action movie Warriors of Future has been widely praised.
Li is also well-known in the international comics scene. His comics have been published in places like Japan, Taiwan (China), Malaysia,the Mainland, France, and Italy since the 1990s.
In 2016, the Hong Kong Arts Centre jointly curated Li’s solo exhibition entitled Li Chi-tak, Hong Kong Wizard with the Angoulême International Comics Festival in France. He is the first Hong Kong comics artist to hold a solo exhibition at this renowned comics festival. Later, he was invited to participate in the BD Louvre project, alongside publishing the comic book titled Moon of the Moon (French and Chinese versions) in 2019.
His recent publications include romance comics Yum Sui, comics that pay homage to Franz Kafka's literary classics Kafka, children comics A Little Strawberry (2022 & 2024 Reprint Edition), In the Path Artworks Collection Book, Heroes, etc.
In 2022, Hong Kong Arts Centre awarded Honorary Fellowships to Li, recognising his invaluable contribution to the arts sector in Hong Kong and Asian region.
CHOCOLATE RAIN BY Prudence MAK
Chocolate Rain, founded in 2000, is a distinctive local design brand inspired by childhood dreams and whimsical adventures in wonderland. Each piece is meticulously handcrafted, combining mixed media and unique artistic elements to create truly one-of-a-kind arts.
Prudence, the visionary founder and designer of Chocolate Rain, graduated in Fine Art. In 2008, she received the prestigious Design Smart scholarship to pursue an MA Degree in Design Studies at Central Saint Martins, London. Her outstanding contributions to the design world have been recognised with numerous accolades, including the 2010 Ten Outstanding Designers Award, the 2012 Hong Kong Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award, and the 2013 Young Women Innovator Award by APEC. Prudence served as an Executive Committee member of the Hong Kong Designers Association from 2004 to 2016. In 2025, Prudence was appointed as a Senior Advisor for the Hong Kong Arts Centre, further solidifying her influence and dedication to the arts and design community.
Chocolate Rain's design collections and illustrations have been commissioned by global brands like Clinique, Luella, Stella McCartney’s Care, and Swarovski. The WHY THROW AWAY YOUR MEMORY art exhibition debuted at Times Square in 2009, and the BRITISH MUSEUM X Chocolate Rain Collection launched in London in 2010. Since 2008, Fatina Dreams Ltd has spearheaded global licensing projects.
ISATISSE
After working several years as a fashion and product designer, the Hong Kong illustrator Isabel Tong started her own illustration brand ISATISSE. The brand aims to bring joy to people with her cheerful and colorful artwork and products. Isabel’s illustration series Urban Diorama had won the Japan Illustration Award 2024 Bronze Award. She had won the Excellent Illustrator Award 2023 presented by Japanese Illustrator Association (JIA), the 3x3 International Illustration Show No.21 Merit Award and the White Ravens 2024 with her first picture book Be Yourself.
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About Hong Kong Arts Centre
Hong Kong Arts Centre - Art for Passion, Art for Life, Art for All
Since 1977, the Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) has been a platform for nurturing and supporting artists, and infusing art into everyday life. Its unique arts and educational programmes aim to make the arts accessible for all. The HKAC believes in the transformational power of art for people from all walks of life. Established for more than four decades, the HKAC endeavours to bring arts to the people of Hong Kong by presenting programmes in diverse art disciplines, such as visual arts, performing arts, moving images, media arts, comics, animation, arts education, lecture forum, public art, art festival and community art. With the vision of inspiring creativity in the local and international art community. With a vision of inspiring creativity in the local and international art community, HKAC focuses on four strategic areas: Leading Art Programmes, Nurturing Future Generations, Fostering Exceptional Art Education and Developing a Multi-Functional Building for Art in Wan Chai to create versatile exhibition spaces that accommodate a diversity of art forms and styles.
The HKAC aspires to engage everyone in the community to become an active participant in the arts - as an enthusiast, an artist or a patron. Let’s continue to embrace ‘Art for Passion, Art for Life, Art for All’, and share the inspiration.
Official website: hkac.org.hk | Facebook: Hong Kong Arts Centre | Instagram: @hongkongartscentre
About Comix Home Base
Comics and animation are important local pop culture and artistic creations. Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) has been dedicated to planning and organising diverse and unique activities to promote the arts and culture of comics and animation to the local community and abroad.
Since 2006, HKAC curated Comix Home Base project (CHB), and has been working closely with comics artists, animators, industry practitioners and various government departments to promote local works. Over 800 ani-com-related events are hosted, such as exhibitions, talks, workshops, performances, publications, screenings, public arts, etc.
In recent years, Comix Home Base has continued to proactively orchestrate cross-media collaborations and look for crossovers between comics and different media like public art, movie, dance, intangible cultural heritage, martial arts etc., expanding the creative space for comix. Outside Hong Kong, China, the footprints of Comix Home Base can be found overseas in France, Belgium, Britain, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Japan, Mainland China, Taiwan, China, Singapore, Korea, Russia, Indonesia and Portugal etc. This has facilitated the involvement of numerous Hong Kong comics artists in international collaboration projects. Also, local comics have been successfully published in different foreign versions in European countries and the United States, increasing the international recognition of local comics and animation artists.
Comix Home Base is fully committed to creating a platform for the art of Hong Kong anime and comics to flourish and keep elevating comics that are 'made in Hong Kong' to the global stage with stakeholders.
Official website: www.comixhomebase.com.hk | Facebook: hkacchb |
Instagram: @comixhomebase
