Pak Sheung Chuen's 'Nightmare Wallpaper' Processes Hong Kong's Umbrella Movement Trauma Through Art

Pak Sheung Chuen's book 'Nightmare Wallpaper' collects automatic drawings and writings created over five years, stemming from his depression after Hong Kong's 2014 Umbrella Movement. The movement, which demanded transparent elections, ended without reform and led to arrests, prompting Pak to attend court hearings and produce meditative drawings. These include simplified ideograms called 'seals' and tessellated 'nightmare wallpaper' patterns, accompanied by his lengthy analyses. The publication, priced at HK$360 in hardcover from Para Site, also features court reports from his Ming Pao column, documentation of performances like burning a Tiananmen Square fire image, and poetic letters with an inmate named Z. Editor Freya Chou describes the book as consoling for Hongkongers facing political impasse, termed the 'worst crisis since the Handover', amid ongoing clashes and anti-mainlander sentiment during the coronavirus epidemic. Pak's work focuses on internal transformation rather than direct political action, with the correspondence with Z highlighting personal costs of the movement, including Z's divorce and feelings of confinement. Reviewed by Adeline Chia in ArtReview Asia's Spring 2020 issue, the book explores processing failure and disillusionment through art, though its automatic drawings' broader impact remains uncertain.