The exodus of people from Hong Kong due to Covid-19 and mainland China's growing controls is affecting not only family company owners and expatriate businesspeople, but also cultural workers.
While the numbers of departees are climbing, there are also individuals who are choosing to stay in Hong Kong out of a determination to bear witness and push back against the controls.
The extent of the art world exodus is uncertain and only anecdotal, and the permanence of departure is pure conjecture. The Hong Kong diaspora has always been fluid, and this applies to artists as well.