Hong Kong Pearl Oyster

The inscription carved into this pearl oyster shell reads “Hong Kong Pearls”. It refers to natural as well as cultured pearls. The latter were locally farmed in Hong Kong until the mid-twentieth century; recently, attempts have been made to revive the industry.[Cf]

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there was a booming industry based on mother-of-pearl products and pearl cultivation in the area around Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Up until today, local artists and artisans engage with maritime matters. The Hong Kong-based artist/architect duo MAP Office, for example, uses oyster shells in a wide range of art works, among them an installation through which they, alongside other artists, represented Hong Kong at the 52nd International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia in 2007. MAP Office’s “shellscapes” to some extent are in the tradition of Robert Smithson’s materializations of continents through maritime material matter.[Cf] Yet, MAP Office’s work focuses specifically on Hong Kong oysters, which the artists also staged in photographic works and small sculptures that use shells to reflect on landscape as a cultural artifact, on territoriality and on politics.