Visual (Re)Productions of Space and Place
A comparative analysis of Ian Lambot’s photography and Expedition Team’s section drawing of Kowloon Walled City.
Heidi Au Yeung Yat Ning
Seminar Tutor: Ben Campkin 4999 Words
1.0 Introduction
Architecture is space and place, existing in translation between the three dimensional and two dimensional, the physical and virtual. This essay will look at Tuan’s theory of space and place amongst other theorists, understanding space as objective geometry and place as space embedded with meaning1. As such architecture designs the space to which meanings are attached, creating place. Kowloon Walled City of Hong Kong was a ‘megastructure’ that arose from economic, social and spatial potential between 1988 and 1993. It was enclosures of space that ‘adapted themselves in relation to specific contingencies of their sites’2 without formal regulation due to the site’s political ambiguity. Since its demolition in 1993, it has become a piece of history; remaining as meaningful memories, emotions, stories, and relationships. This essay will analyse the translation of Kowloon Walled City, as a space and place, through Ian Lambot’s aerial (Fig1) and interior photograph (Fig2) and Kowloon City Expedition team’s section drawing, Large Illustrated Kowloon City (Fig3). Elements of space and place will form the basis of comparison between the images: examining how its content represent volume and typology, encourage spatial experience, communicate meaning through inhabitation and relationships, are products of individual interpretations. It is hypothesized that the section drawing, which dissects structure is a means to communicate space whilst photographs, which captures activities in space is a means to communicate place. This analysis will not only produce new knowledge of Kowloon Walled City, but also bring reflection upon how architecture is visually represented.
1 2
Yi Fu Tuan. Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience. 1977 Peter Popham. “Kowloon Walled City - The Reality.” In City of Darkness Revisited. 2013.
.
Fig 1. Aerial shot of the walled city by Ian Lambot. Autumn 1989
Fig 2. Young Boy in living area in back of family shop by Ian Lambot 1990
Fig 3. Large Illustrated Kowloon City by Kowloon City Expedition team and Terasawa Kazumi1997
2.0 Space and Place Theory
Space and place are fundamental concepts of architecture with an interdependent existence.
‘‘… if we think of space as that which allows movement, then place is pause; each pause in movement makes it possible for location to be transformed into place’’ – Yi Fu Tuan3
Space is a measurable enclosure. Walls, floors and ceilings are combined to introduce the third dimension of depth, producing enclosed spaces - volumes. Spatial typologies are formed by the arrangement of volumes, creating voids and boundaries, interior and exteriors, form and organization a structure that appropriate activities and dictates the body’s motion.4 Schmarsow explains that ‘Space exists because we have a body… irrespective of whether we physically place ourselves inside the space or mentally project ourselves into it’’5. Therefore, space of Kowloon Walled City will be assessed through the mental projection of the viewer’s body into the image’s space. Place is created when meaning is attached to these spaces.6 Space inhabited by objects and people generates meaning; as lives enacted and relationships built, value and belonging are established.7 However, meanings formed by the inhabitants of the city, are tampered by the image producer’s in their translation of three dimensional to two dimensional space and further distorted by the viewer’s interpretation of the images.
3
Tuan. Space and Place. Ibid. 5 Adrian Forty. “Spaces.” In Words and Buildings. Thames and Hudsons, 2004. 6 Tuan. Space and Place. 7 Tim Cresswell. Place A Short Introduction. 4
3.0 Images
Image captures and record space and place on a two dimensional plane in a moment of time, allowing Kowloon Walled City to be studied even after its demolition.
Photograph Photography is regarded the most accurate method of representation as it freezes time and motion. It projects the physical realm onto a two dimensional object that could be edited, scaled, cropped and circulated.8 The aerial and interior photographs were taken as means ‘‘to record Kowloon Walled City between 1988 to late 1992 when the City was still fully occupied’’9. They were originally published 1993, in Ian Lambot and Greg Girard’s photographic journal, City of Darkness.
Aerial Photograph
Fig1.
8 9
Susan Sontag. On Photography. Puffin, 1977. Greg Girard, and Ian Lambot. “City of Darkness | Revisited,” 2013. http://cityofdarkness.co.uk/.
Lambot took this aerial photograph from a helicopter, on an autumn afternoon in 1989. It shows more than 300 individual buildings chaotically backed onto a 216 by 126 m site, revealing ‘how small the Walled City was in area, and how densely packed it was’10.
Interior Photograph
Fig2.
The interior photograph brings the viewer into Lee Pui Yuen’s own shop at 12 Tai Chang Street of Kowloon Walled City. Not only does it reveal the interior spaces of Kowloon Walled City, it also invites the viewer into the individual’s lives to demonstrate how the space has been inhabited. Lambot’s photos became a mean to ‘tell people’s stories’, ‘de-mystify and humanize this place of urban myth’11.
10 11
Email to ian.lambot@btinternet.com. “Kowloon Walled City Dissertation” Jan 5, 2016. Girard. “City of Darkness”
Section Drawing
Fig 3.
Section drawings dissect and flatten contained space to reveal interior spaces. The Large-scale Illustrated Kowloon City section drawing was illustrated by Hitomi Terasawa, according to a survey conducted by The Japanese Expedition Team from 14th to 20th October 1992.12 The team aimed to “make a complete view and archive of the high density living space with a panoramic section view illustration’’13, drawing a flat inscription of the three dimensional space on a blank canvas that erases site context. Its form has been abstracted into a visor of black lines and functions codified by colour: orange representing cut wall, beige representing a distant background and turquoise representing circulation space. The homogenous language and scale of section drawings allow us to combine and discover information of space and place. 14
Each medium presents Kowloon Walled City from a unique perspective angle, revealing different aspects of its space and place. The message they communicate is a product of interpretations, influenced by method of representation and skewed through its dissemination.
12
Takayuki SUZUKI. “The Kowloon Walled City Expedition.” 1997. Ibid 14 Bruno Latour. “Visualisation and Cognition: Drawing Things Together.” In Representation in Scientific Practice, 19–68, 1990. 13
4.0 Production of Space and Place 4.1 Spatial Geometry Kowloon Walled City was a megastructure on a politically defined site.
Fig1b Locating Kowloon Walled City
The distance at which the aerial photograph is taken reveals the site context of Kowloon Walled City – providing geographic and historic context to the spatial creation of the City. The photograph shows Kowloon Walled City standing in physical isolation (Fig1b), enclosed by Tung Tau Tsuen Road, Tung Tsing Road and a park that is under construction. This boundary was a result of shifting political powers; it was originally a Chinese military fort situated within the territory of the British Colony, but was abandoned after the WWII and became part of Sai Tau Tsuen Squatter settlement. (Fig4) Its political boundary protected it from being demolished when the neighbouring settlement was cleared in 1985 by the British Government. It also attracted migrants to build homes, people to start businesses and illicit activities to take place, resulting in its unrestrained upward growth15. As such, the perspective of the photograph records and explains the volume of Kowloon Walled City.
15
James Saywell. “The Architecture of a Mini City.” In City of Darkness Revisited, 116–43.
Fig2b Enclosure
Fig2c. Speculation of Room Enclosure
Fig2d Wall Division
On the other hand, the interior photograph reveals how internal spaces of Kowloon Walled City are enclosed. The framing of the photograph depicts an incomplete enclosure, revealing only four surfaces of the volume: the ceiling, floor and two walls (Fig2b). Thus the viewer has to speculate the actual enclosure of internal space in the interior photographs (Fig 2c). It also reveals the ambiguous boundaries of space within Kowloon Walled city as the backing board of a shelf divides a volume of space to allow multiple activities occurring in one volume. (Fig2d)
Fig3b Fluid Space
The section reveals the size of Kowloon Walled city in two dimensions in a scaled drawing. The section omits depth of space, flattening the volume into length and height. When seen from afar, the dense area of illustration that represents the area of enclosure and its inhabitation distinctly indicates the boundary of Kowloon Walled City, presenting it as one fluid space (Fig3b). It also reveals how the structure is built into the landscape, unevenly digging into the ground that is marked in orange. Despite the omission of site context to understand scale, the sheer volume of Kowloon Walled City is communicated through the use of proportions and size of its original publication that measured 4ft by 18ft16.
16
Girard. “City of Darkness�
The images display the site area and massing of Kowloon Walled City that defines its spatial volume. This is revealed through comparison with neighbouring buildings on site in the aerial photograph. Contrastingly, the section drawing reveals the geometric size by isolating, abstracting and drawing Kowloon Walled City’s form in proportion. On the contrary, the internal volume of space could not be clearly identified through the interior photograph: a shelf temporarily divides a room for which the enclosure is unclear. This allows the viewer to speculate spatial enclosures, taking part in the creation of Kowloon Walled City’s spaces, just as the inhabitants have built this space. However these images only capture the spatial enclosure of Kowloon Walled City at one instance of time17 as it was constantly under construction.
17
Sontag. On Photography.
4.2 Spatial Typology
The mega volume of Kowloon Walled City is an amalgamation of smaller units of space, adapted by its inhabitants over time.
Fig1c. Roofscape
Fig1d. Comparing building density Social Housing (Grey), Kowloon Walled City (Red)
The aerial photograph contrasts Kowloon Walled City’s form to its neighbouring typologies, highlighting its organic form. The distance at which the picture is taken reveals the neighbouring social housing estate, Tung Tau Resettlement Scheme. The monotonous blocks arranged like a set of dominoes with open space intervals18 starkly contrasts to the dense, unregulated construction of Kowloon Walled City. This is especially evident as we study the two roofscapes: regularly sized continuous flat roofs of 18
Saywell. “The Architecture of a Mini City.”
the social houses compared to the staggering and patched roofscape of Kowloon Walled City (Fig1c) This comparison also illustrates the density of construction (See Fig 1c); 12 blocks occupy the approximate area of two housing estate. The distance of the photograph contrasts the planned social housing to the unplanned Kowloon Walled City in form and density.
Fig2d Constructed and Actual Floor Space
The interior view reveals the furniture and objects that determines the actual floor space. Whilst wall shelves, shop products, cabinets, bed and standing shelf have been arranged to maximise space efficiency according to the needs of its inhabitant, they restrict a body’s movement in that space. If according to Tuan ‘Space is experienced by having room in which to move’19, then the actual floor space should eliminate the footprint area of furniture from the construction floor space as furniture ‘prescribe or proscribe gestures, routes and distances to be covered’20. Thus, spatial enclosure is not simply defined by walls, ceilings and floors but also defined by the furniture of its inhabitants.
19 20
Tuan. Space and Place Henri Lefebvre. The Production of Space. 1991.
Fig3c. Individual blocks (Black lines) Adapted Spaces (Dark Red)
On the other hand, the section cuts through the length of Kowloon Walled City, revealing the internal space divisions and connections across 31 blocks that forms the megastructure. The blocks could be distinguished by the small gaps and their staggering height (Fig3c). Contrastingly, the horizontal floor division is less distinct as there was no standard construction height regulations, resulting in staggering levels built over time. The individual rooms within this irregular spatial grid reveal the hyper density of the Walled City. However this spatial structure continues to morph as the inhabitants add/remove internal walls and introduce spontaneous circulation means, to redefine spaces. The unique typology of Kowloon Walled City lies in the connection between these irregularly arranged spaces, making it ‘possible to traverse the entire City without once coming down to ground level’.
Kowloon Walled City’s typology is a product of multi-generational construction by its inhabitants. Close examination of the aerial photograph reveals the individual volumes that form the megastructure. The section reveals the adaption of spaces to produce a complex spatial continuum as rooms interconnect between the volumes. The interior photograph challenges the structural definition of space presented in the aerial and section drawing as it demonstrates furniture of a room also constrains space. Simultaneously, contrasting to the unorderly spatial organisation depicted in the aerial photograph, the interior photograph shows the considered arrangement of spaces – a chaotic exterior containing organised interior spaces.
4.3 Spatial Experience The human body is the measure and producer of space. 21 Therefore the significance of these images lies in their ability for the viewer to project themselves into and navigate the depicted spacesof Kowloon Walled City.
Fig1e Camera Position (Red Dot) The aerial photograph displays space from an unfamiliar perspective, inhibiting the projection of the body into the space. Not only is there no human figure for the viewer to relate to, the architectural features that define space are too small for the viewer to imagine themselves in the space. In addition, the perspective angle juxtaposes to the elevational view that a pedestrian would usually approach a site in the physical realm; if the viewer was to project themselves into the space depicted, they would be falling into Kowloon Walled City from height. The perspective and distance at which the photograph is taken hinders the projection of the body into the space, such that the viewer is only observing rather than experiencing space, just as the photographer only observed Kowloon Walled City from afar in taking the photograph. 21
Henri Lefebvre. The Production of Space. Blackwell Publishing, 1991.
On the other hand, interior photograph encloses the viewer into the space depicted. Spatial experience is created in the image by positioning the viewer in the location of the camera where the photograph is taken. This ‘mental worlds (is) refined (by a) sensory experience’ as the camera captures the texture g the materiality of space and objects in the image.22 The sharp white artificial light exposes the unfurnished and scratched wall surfaces, and three mechanic fans ventilate the presumably heated space from the lack of openings. The distance of the photograph not only invites the viewer into the space, but also captures the quality and texture of objects to enhance the viewer’s spatial experience.
The nature of the section illustration does not advocate a spatial experience. The flattening of the three dimensional space and abstraction of objects into outlines, omitting depth and removing sensory cues inhibits the projection of body into the space. On the other hand, the scale and perspective of the section drawing could be likened to looking at a lit up building at night from a far, watching lives enacted in each room simultaneously; the viewer is invited to study the spaces of the section drawing from a far and in its entirety, understanding ‘space as the relative location of objects and places’23 rather than project their bodies into the depicted spaces.
The distance at which the photographs were taken, is also the psychological distance at which the viewer engages with the spaces of the images. The scale at which the aerial photograph and section drawing presents Kowloon Walled City inhibits projection of the body, encouraging the viewer to simply be an observer. On the other hand, the interior photograph brings the viewer into the space just as Lambot was within the room when taking the photograph, producing a richer experience of space. Nonetheless, this projected experience of space is also dependent on the viewer’s ability to imagine three dimensional spaces.
22 23
Tuan. Space and Place. Tuan. Space and Place.
4.4 Place of Inhabitation
Kowloon Walled City’s identity is formed by its inhabitation, revealed by the collection of objects and associated activities.24 The diversity of activities within the political boundary created a selfsupporting system, giving its name as a city. The objects represent the activities and lives of its inhabitants, embodying value and meaning that makes Kowloon Walled City a place.
Fig1f Comparing facades The aerial photograph shows objects spilling out of the constructed volume, onto the façades of Kowloon Walled City. Compared to the sterile, monolithic pink and white facades of the neighbouring social housing estates, the exterior is patched in various colours with objects protruding randomly from the interior spaces (Fig1f). This shows the inhabitation, adaption and ownership of the place – asserting the identity of its residents. Nevertheless, as these objects could not be identified due to the distance at which the photograph is taken and low resolution of publication, the aerial is a superficial reading of place. Inhabitation, and hence place, is acknowledged but not understood, stopping at the surface of these volumes of spaces.
24
Ibid
Fig2e Objects of inhabitation
The interior photograph shows the objects that forms the lives of a family. The family’s living space is juxtaposed to the shop to reveal both the private and public lives within Kowloon Walled City. Boxes of cigarette sits neatly on a shelf, tin cans and toilet rolls are stacked on shelves behind the counter, large bags of rice on the bottom shelf: these products purchased by the city’s inhabitants represents their daily lives. A few shirts hangs from the wall, towels stacked on top of a cupboard and a neatly folded bed reveal the simplistic but organized lives of families. These objects (Fig2e) symbolises the culture of life within the Walled City. Nevertheless, this reading is influenced by the image viewer’s cultural background and consequent ability to relate to these objects; a Hong Kong resident outside the Walled City would not only be able to understand the characters on the packaging of objects, but may also use those items. If the viewer previously held discriminatory views of the people within Kowloon Walled City, they may now see how lives are not so different from their own – breaking stereotypes of it being a poverty stricken place. The objects depicted in the interior photograph represent the lives of its inhabitants, asserting identity of the people inhabiting this place.
Rest
Preparing Food Eating
Tidying Playing Arran ging stock
Resting
Ironing Construct
Fig3d. Density of inhabitation
The section drawing illustrates the objects and their usage to show the activities within Kowloon Walled City. The Expedition team invited Japanese illustrator Hitomi Terasawa to illustrate the section produced from the survey, ‘filling it with people and activity’25. From children playing on roof tops and workers in a pork processing factory to clothes drying on racks and cracks on the wall, the illustration not only reveal the diversity of activities but contains details of materiality. It presents the inhabitation of the city in a moment of time, showing density of density and activities. However, the abstraction of the objects into outline create a sea of black lines that makes the drawing difficult to read, whilst producing a generic view of these places, requiring the viewer’s speculation of the objects based on their cultural background.
25
Suzuki. “The Kowloon Walled City Expedition.”
The images reveal inhabitation of Kowloon Walled city through objects and activities contained in the space. The aerial photograph shows inhabitation manifested from the exterior, whilst the interior photograph depicts the objects that form the intimate living space of a family. The section drawing compiles these two aspects of inhabitation, allowing the activities across Kowloon Walled City to be understood in relation to each other in one image. Nevertheless, the interpretation of the meanings associated with these objects and activities are not only influenced by the representation, but also by the viewer’s cultural background.
4.5 Place from relationships
These activities are the means of building relationships, which give value and meaning to a place. According to Tuan ‘the value of place was borrowed from the intimacy of a particular human relationship’26: the relationships between inhabitants of the city, between the inhabitants and the image producer and, consequently, between the image and its viewer.
The transition of from spatial to human portrait photographs reflects the relationships Lambot built within the place over time. He took the aerial photograph as a distant observer of the place, fascinated by the ‘city’s architecture and planning27’. Neither was the photograph a product of relationships or a means to represent relationships. However, he became ‘far more interested in’28 the residents of Kowloon Walled city over time and focused his photography in capturing the relationships of the inhabitants. Early portraits were not candid depictions of these relationships, coloured by his judgement
26
Tuan. Space and Place. Girard “City of Darkness” 28 Ibid 27
of the place and filtered by the cultural barrier between him and the inhabitants29. Being a European within this local Chinese community, residents would act cautiously around Lambot, thinking he is ‘either a plain-clothed policeman or a civil servant’30. However over time and with the assistance of local history graduate, Suenn Ho, Lambot began building relationships with the residents, visiting their homes and understanding their lives within the city.
Fig2f. Image as published in book The stories and relationships between Lambot and the residents became the meaning to the space and his photographs. The interior photograph captures the clock handle at one forty on an afternoon in 1990 when Lambot visited Lee Pui Yuen, the man sitting behind the shop counter, and his son who boringly looks at the camera. Lee Pui Yuen came to Hong Kong in a boat in 1964 and has lived in Kowloon Walled City for 27 years– Kowloon Walled City is his home, the place where he built his family and started a business.31 Not only do the faces of Lee Pui Yuen and his son in the photograph engage the viewer, Lambot also publishes Lee Pui Yuen’s life story alongside the photograph in the City of Darkness (Fig2f). Thus the viewers are not just passive readers of the image, but become acquainted with the lives residents of Kowloon Walled City. The interior photographs capture lives and stories of Kowloon Walled City, embedding meaning into this megastructure.
29
Email to Ian Lamot Ibid 31 Ian Lambot. “Lee Pui Yuen Shopkeeper.” In City of Darkness Revisited. 2013. 30
Fig3e Producing the illustration
On the other hand, the section drawing was produced through speculated inhabitation of an evacuated city. The Japanese expedition team only had one week to survey the evacuated city before it was demolished in 1992. Whilst they were able to measure the size of the space, the rooms were in such a mess that (they) couldn’t tell what the place used to be’ and they did not ‘know anything about daily life in here, how the residents ate, raised kids, interacted, went to school…’32 – they had no understanding of the relationships that made the place. Instead, the illustrator had to overlay the measured scaled drawing with images of the rooms, ‘reducing, eliminating, or even adding elements to reality by fusion and distortion’33 as she speculated how it room would be inhabited to produce the illustration(Fig3e). The lack of relationship with the inhabitants of the city results in a skewed understanding of Kowloon Walled city as a place, as their Japanese cultural background influences their speculation of the inhabitation of the place. Thus the section drawing of this culturally Chinese place is distorted, as evident by the Japanese signage used in the illustration. Furthermore, the drawing was produced in their studio in Tokyo, Japan – out of the cultural context of the place they are illustrating.34
32
Suzuki. “The Kowloon Walled City Expedition.” Kevin Lynch. The Image of the City. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1960. 34 Suzuki. “The Kowloon Walled City Expedition.” 33
The lack of relationships with the inhabitants and understanding of the cultural context of Kowloon Walled City has resulted in a inaccurate illustration of place.
The value of Kowloon Walled City depicted by the images is created from the image producer’s experience and relationship with the people of this place. Despite being a foreigner, Lambot’s understanding of the place was developed through the relationships he built with the residents over five years, enriching the meanings communicated through his interior photograph. Contrastingly, whilst the seven day survey by Japanese Expedition Team has allowed thorough investigation of the space, it has a distorted understanding of the activities and inhabitation that makes it a place.
5.0 Reproduction of Space and Place
The dissemination of these images has resulted in reproductions of the space and places originally communicated through the images. They become ‘poor images’ as their ‘quality’ is lost as it is ‘uploaded, downloaded, shared, reformatted and reedited’ for increased ‘accessibility’ online35, and their meanings are consequently distorted.
Fig1g. Dissemination of Aerial Photogrpah
The online dissemination of the photographs has opened up infinite possibilities of reading. Both the aerial and interior photograph was originally published in the book City of Darkness: Life in the Kowloon Walled City, producing a controlled reading as Lambot designs the page layout, decides the image size, writes the image captions, orders the sequence of reading and ensures quality of print – factors which affect the meanings read through the photographs. As the aerial photograph has been cropped, resized, re-coloured and redistributed through different platforms, its original meaning has been lost. In addition, 35
Hito Steyerl. “In Defense of the Poor Image.”
different captions accompany each publication, shifting the focus of the reading. In its original publication, the aerial photograph filled a double page, allowing the viewer to appreciate and discover their own meanings to this place. On the other hand, the Daily Mail used the aerial to represent a place ‘notorious for drugs and crime but many of its 50,000 residents lived their lives peacefully until it was demolished in the early 90s’36, whereas ‘Dobby Brain’s’ blog uses the image in his personal narrative, identifying ‘where (his) dad lived’37 in bold text and an arrow. As such, the circulation and editing of the photograph has redefined the space and place it communicates.
Fig3g. Dissemination of Section Drawing
Similarly, the meanings of the section drawing were lost in its dissemination. It was originally published within the covers of Large-scale Illustrated Kowloon City – revealing the size of the city as it is printed on an extended fold out page, and its inhabitation as the quality of print is ensured for the details to be read. Not only is the book no longer in print, limiting accessibility to the image, it has been 36 37
Pamela Owen. “A Rare Insight into Kowloon Walled City.” Mail Online. Herman Yung. “My Father Lived in Kowloon Walled City.” Dooby Brain Blog
cropped and republished on multiple platforms online. Each cropping and resizing brings focus to a different element of space and place in the drawing. As such, the original intention to produce a ‘complete view’ is lost.
The online circulation of these images has reproduced the space and place they originally communicate. Nonetheless, the diversity of the platforms in which they are published widens its audience from those with established interest in Kowloon Walled City to an infinite possibility of people with access to the internet.
6.0 Conclusion
Kowloon Walled City was a megastructure produced over 50 years by its inhabitants, demolished in 1992 and reproduced in and through these images. The space and place of Kowloon Walled city was a product of its inhabitants, experienced by the image producers, translated into an image, reinterpreted by the viewer and reproduced with each republication of the image.
Space, being size of enclosure and volumes, could be objectively read through the images. The aerial depicts the spatial dimensions of Kowloon Walled City in context, highlighting its spatial typology in contrast to neighbouring structures. On the other contrary, the interior photograph reveals the ambiguity of internal spatial enclosures through the adaptive construction of spaces. The section drawing combines these two aspects of space into one illustration, revealing spatial density and adaptive construction as it exposes the internal space and structure.
Places are processes that attach meaning to space, varying between the people that experiences Kowloon Walled City in its original production as a physical space and reproduction as images. Attachments to the space varied between each resident of the city as they inhabit and partake in constructing a different part of the city. On the other hand, as the personal interests and cultural background of the image producers influence their experience of Kowloon Walled City, they communicate a different sense of place through their images.
The images further dictate meaning of Kowloon Walled City through its framing of content and method of representation. The aerial photograph provides a superficial understanding of place that stops at the surface of this structure as it depicts the Walled City from afar. On the other hand, the objects and activities, within the interior photograph and section drawing, represent the lives which
inhabit and create meaning to this space. Nevertheless, the meanings deduced are based on the viewer’s cultural background and reception of the photograph. Thus Kowloon Walled City is redefined as a place with each reading these visual productions.
Each medium have presented the space and place of Kowloon Walled City from a different perspective. Therefore, just as space and place could not be experienced by itself, but in combination with surrounding event, these images should not be read alone but together as a sequence from the distant to the close.
Fig 4.Visual Productions of Kowloon Walled City
Whilst the processes that physically constructed Kowloon Walled City has ceased since its demolition, the processes that defines Kowloon Walled City as a space and place continues through these visual productions, and reproductions. The images were created as means to record the history of Kowloon Walled City as space and place, but have also become the means through which this space and place is reproduced.
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