Voices of the Walls is an exhibition exploring the history and visual culture of the infamous Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong through photographs by Ian Lambot, Greg Girard, Bianca Tse, and Keeping Lee.
The exhibition offers visitors a chance to delve into the rich visual history of this once-controversial urban enclave.
Photography serves as a vital medium for archiving collective memory and preserving heritage, especially for places destined to disappear—like the Walled City. While few dared to venture there, even fewer documented it. Yet Ian Lambot and Greg Girard did precisely that in the years leading up to its demolition, culminating in the iconic book City of Darkness, published by Watermark, which has sold over 20,000 copies to date. This collection not only preserves the heritage of the notorious Walled City through images and stories but has also inspired subsequent generations of artists, influencing everything from video games and AI-generated imagery—such as Bianca Tse’s work featured in this exhibition—to films like the recent blockbuster Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In.
Originally established as a military outpost during the Song Dynasty, Kowloon Walled City evolved into a refuge for displaced people after World War II, leading to rapid and largely unregulated growth. For decades, it existed in a near-governance vacuum, with minimal oversight from either the Hong Kong government or Chinese authorities. At its peak, the Walled City housed approximately 30,000 to 50,000 residents within just 6.4 acres, making it one of the most densely populated places on Earth. The settlement was characterised by tightly packed high-rise buildings, often constructed with scant regard for building regulations. Most structures ranged from four to six storeys, with some reaching up to twelve. Narrow, labyrinthine alleyways wove through the city, frequently barely wide enough for pedestrians. Residents developed a self-sufficient community, complete with shops, small factories, restaurants, and services—including schools, dentists, and medical facilities—all within the confines of the Walled City.
Living conditions were often cramped and unsanitary, with limited access to basic amenities such as water and sewage systems. The absence of formal governance posed challenges, yet it also fostered a unique informal social order, with local gangs and triads playing significant roles.
Since its demolition in 1994, the Walled City has attained a kind of punk immortality and visual aesthetic, evoking a modernist dystopia—a blend of filth, darkness, haphazard concrete construction, and overcrowding. This unsettling yet captivating image has become a recurring motif in art, literature, video games, and cinema, as exemplified by Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In.