sculpture culture

I would be far from complaining about the treatment I have received in any English hospital, but I do know that it is a sound instinct that warns people to keep out of hospitals if possible, and especially out of the public wards.

George Orwell, How the Poor Die

This winter, I have been in and out of hospitals and clinics in Hong Kong much more frequently than I would have liked. It has curtailed my cycling activities for a start. Of course, I’m not poor, and I’m not complaining about my treatment, but I do agree with Orwell that hospitals are places that you don’t want to spend time in, especially as most of that time is spent simply waiting for something to happen.

However, this is not a lament about my recent experiences of hospitals. Recently, I had an appointment at Nethersole Hospital in Taipo, which is the hospital that I was taken to following my momentary lapse of concentration on the last day of 2011. I was early, so I decided to have a wander around the hospital grounds. The hospital is on the outskirts of Taipo, in one of the highest parts of town, so the grounds are very open and are not overshadowed by high-rise residential blocks.

I’d noticed a couple of abstract sculptures on the way in:

…but I hadn’t really registered their significance. I particularly like the convolutions of the first sculpture. I couldn’t say what either of these works is meant to represent when I first saw them, because the text on the plinths is only in Chinese, but Paula informed me that the four sides of the plinth of the first sculpture list the names of the members of the hospital’s management committee and the role they played in fundraising. The word that sprang immediately to mind was ‘squeeze’, which when you think about it is what this sculpture represents. The second sculpture is meant to represent two people who are supporting each other.

However, before discussing the other sculptures here, I’d like to show you a mosaic that you will pass on your approach to the hospital. This is a general view from the downhill end:

…while this is the uphill end:

Clearly, the imagery is crude, but I applaud the fact that someone has taken the time to make a bare concrete wall more interesting.

A short distance past the mosaic, it’s possible to see what’s in the hospital grounds:

At this point, a digression: there are at least two stainless steel plaques in the grounds with the legend ‘Location Map of Art Work and Museum’, which also include the names given to the various sculptures, although not the first two that I featured above.

The point of this digression is that of the two sculptures in the previous photo, I’m only going to disclose the name of the one on the left. It’s ‘Bird’! The reason for this exclusion will become obvious in due course.

The name of the next sculpture, which is the first that you would pass if driving into the hospital, originally struck me as bizarre because it looked nothing like a seagull to me, and ‘Seagull’ is the work’s title. However, I’ve subsequently viewed it from a different angle, and bearing in mind that seagulls are one of the few birds that can be seen flying with one wing vertically above the other, I can now see the resemblance, even though the lower wing has been truncated!

As I walked around the green area that contains ‘Bird’, I took several photographs of the sculpture, including this one:

It may not look like any bird you’ve ever seen, but at least you should be able to see the resemblance. Notice the ‘unnamed’ sculpture in the background. This is a closer look:

It’s now time to explain why I declined to provide a title earlier. The name of this exhibit is ‘Birth’, and if you are viewing it from this direction, the reason for the name should be obvious. However, I defy anyone to see any connotations of ‘birth’ in the view from the back. This is a sculpture that does have a front and a back, so it should have been placed close to a wall, where it would be impossible to view from the rear.

Although I like the next exhibit, located in the same green area as the previous two, I do think that the title, ‘Dance of Flight’, is ever so slightly pretentious.

The next photo shows not a sculpture but a mural:

The heart motifs and the cross are probably intended to be representative of the hospital.

There is yet another sculpture behind, if you look closely. Here are two views, from opposite directions:

The title is ‘Congregation’. Say no more!

The final image is a photo of my favourite sculpture here. When I first came across it, I didn’t have my camera, so I was unable to take a photo when a black-collared starling landed on the ‘animal’ in the middle. It proceeded to sound off—we used to refer to these birds as ‘noisy buggers’ before we knew what they were—even though I was only a few feet away.

I’ve identified these three structures as animals, so I thought that it might be interesting to challenge readers to identify the type of animal being depicted here, which is the title of the piece. I don’t think there are too many viable candidates.

update: 06/05/2019
When I compiled this post, I was aware that I’d omitted two sculptures that are listed on the location map I referred to above. This was deliberate, because the first sculpture is located at the lowest point of the hospital’s grounds, and I didn’t have time to check it out. The second is situated indoors, in the hospital’s central atrium, and I’ve only now been able to photograph it from above, which is the only angle from which a complete view is possible:

In case you’re wondering, the titles are ‘Mother and Child’ and ‘Growth’, respectively.

Incidentally, I feel confident in suggesting that all the sculptures listed on the location map are by the same artist. Do you agree?