Into the woods
The founding of the Association of Tai O Environment and Development in 2011 is a fine example of residents taking a proactive stance to protect local green resources, Kwok notes. In 2015, the group decided to focus solely on saving the city's endangered incense trees and hence rebranded as Association for the Ecological and Cultural Conservation of Aquilaria Sinensis. An illustrated account of their journey figures in the exhibition, sharing a room with Anson Wong Ting-fung's study of the Chinese banyans growing on Hong Kong's stone masonry walls.
Ting covers a period from the 1850s to 2040 in his infographic. Mixing history with projections, he includes artist renderings of future conservation techniques. His style has a comic-book feel — sharp line drawings, public opinions on whether to save the trees or walls, presented like dialogue, though not inside speech bubbles.
