A Private Public at CFCCA

Exhibition: A Private Public, Michael Wolf at esea contemporary, Manchester, 12 May–18 June 2017, free entry

German photographer Michael Wolf presents an unconventional view of Hong Kong in A Private Public at CFCCA: the large-scale photographs on display in this exhibition are shot from an intimate stand-point within Hong Kong’s hidden network of back alleys, or ‘laneways’. Since his arrival in the city in 1994, Wolf has been absorbed by the alternative urban culture of these laneways, which are sued by Hong Kong’s residents in a number of ways: as shortcuts, resting places or even storage. The photographs that have resulted contrast apparently interminable industrial facades with these smaller capillary streets to striking visual effect.