Sexual fantasy, fan fiction, fairy tales: Hong Kong queer artists challenge norms

On the third floor exhibition space at 12P Smithfield Road in Kennedy Town, Florence Lee Yuk-ki’s exhibition “Double Blue: An Altered Fairy Tale of Hong Kong (I)” is divided into “sky” and “sea” chapters. It is not a traditional happily ever after but a loose narrative of emotions and memories, with an open-ended conclusion.

The entrance is dominated by Where Sight Sinks into Starlit Eyes (2025), a life-size replica of a section of an aircraft cabin with a six-channel, illustrated animation visible through the oval windows.

From a passenger’s perspective, the Hong Kong skyline gives way to clouds before unfamiliar landscapes emerge. Fragments of the “Flying Chess” board game – a pre-smartphone staple for the city’s families – interrupt the journey on occasion, turning a childhood pastime into a metaphor for how arbitrary dice rolls can determine life paths.