"I decided to stay because HK is my home!" says Mak2, the public name of the artist Mak Ying Tung. "I believe in the power of art to inspire change and I feel a deep-rooted connection to the local culture. The mood among us is mixed: there's a sense of uncertainty, but also an undercurrent of resilience."
"It is essential for progressive people to stay in Hong Kong," says John Batten, a critic and photographer who also calls Hong Kong his home. "You hear, particularly during the 2019 protests, that 'Hong Kong is hopeless; no future...' This can easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy."
The extent of the art world exodus "is just anecdotal", Batten says. "What is more accurate is that only one, Kacey Wong, who is very explicit in his denunciation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on social media, would possibly be detained under the National Security Law if he were to return to Hong Kong. The Hong Kong diaspora has always been fluid, people come and go, and this would apply to artists."
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