Color

||||||||||||||||||||POSTCARD||| Mountain Goat /  by Ashley O'Mahony

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Mountain Goat - Groggy Billy - Phedi - 2012

 

In August 2012, I escaped my urban torments with a lonely trek through the mystical Nepalese mountains. After a night by the sacred lakes of Gosaikunda, we paused our descent at Phedi to have our daily fried Chinese noodles lunch.   The owner of the tiny lodge was treating his white goat with a petroleum bath, to brush off invasive parasites. Stunned by the toxic vapours, the poor animal leaned against the rusty corrugated iron of the hut, desperately trying to resist its heady stupor.

||||||||||||ON.THE.STREET||| Mockery /  by Ashley O'Mahony

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Mockery - Economics is fun - Hong Kong - 2013

 

For the past 2 months, the West Kowloon Cultural District welcomed some strange inflated mobiles on its site, for the exhibition Mobile M+: Inflation! . Among them, a famous giant lotus blossom by Choi Jeong Hwa, and the polemical 15 meters-high "Complex Pile" by Paul McCarthy...

Beside the artworks, some concrete cubes have been displayed to remind the title of the exhibition. I shot this kid while he was posing for his mum's high-tech mobile phone. To me, he looked like making fun of the word "inflation", as if this notion was far away from his concerns. And by extension, far away from the Asian world ones ?

||||||||||||ON.THE.STREET||| Waiting Goal /  by Ashley O'Mahony

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Waiting Goal - Keep still - Hong Kong - 2013

 

Shopping is one of the favorite activities of Hongkongers. The city is unsurprisingly packed with malls, that take an important place in the everyday life. Some of them even offer special equipments, such as this ice rink at Elements. That day, kids were playing a hockey match.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||ART||| Surreal /  by Ashley O'Mahony

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Surreal - Fisherman's friends - Hong Kong - 2012

 

I shot this surreal painting at the Hong Kong Art Fair 2012. This is the work of the Korean artist Yongbaek LEE, who performs in all fields of contemporary art, from media art, sculpture, and photography, to painting. The realism and flashy colours of this one instantly caught my eye.

Some other Yongbaek LEE's artworks are available on Google Art Project.

||||||||||||||||||URBAN.LIFE||| Hanging Bar-Fish /  by Ashley O'Mahony

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Hanging Bar-Fish - Ocean metropolis - Hong Kong - 2013

 

Since always, the Chinese use to preserve fish by drying it under the sun. It is a good way to keep the catch surplus and expensive fishes for more appropriate days. Moreover, it is believed that eating certain food  such as oysters during Chinese New Year celebrations will bring good luck. Each year, this tradition makes all sorts of fishes popping-up all over China. And a maritime city like Hong Kong is not an exception.

Zomppa published a nice article about dried fish in Hong Kong and its outlying islands.

||||||||||||ON.THE.STREET||| Laundry Calling /  by Ashley O'Mahony

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Laundry Calling - Making time pass faster - Paris - 2012

 

In Paris, more than 60% of private accommodations are studios or 2 rooms. So small that it may be difficult to fit any washing machine of the market in. As a consequence, laundromat cropped up all over the streets of the French capital. Who knows how many hours students spend every day in those soapy, strip lighted, whirring rooms ?

|||||||SHOT.IN.THE.DARK||| Purgatory /  by Ashley O'Mahony

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Purgatory - A place between dark and light - Paris - 2009

 

I found again this enigmatic picture in my archives. I don't remember exactly where I took it, but it was in Paris for sure, during one of my numerous walks. I use to go randomly through the small paths of the cities I visit. My favourite game: to get lost in an unknown neighbourhood.