What brought you to M+?

I’d say I brought myself to M+.

When I learned about the West Kowloon Cultural District and M+ museum projects from the news in around 2004–2006, I was so excited that Hong Kong, being one of the metropolitan cities in Asia, would finally have its own piece of art wonderland. At that point, I started to think about my career and the possibility of involvement in such a museum project. I love travelling and every time I visited a museum overseas, I would think about what working life would be like in a cultural environment with a great artistic atmosphere. How I would feel different in the role of museum staff compared to museum visitor. Over the years I paid great attention to M+’s job openings, and I finally got the chance in 2014 to become part of the M+ family.

Describe a typical day for you

Checking and answering emails; handling enquiries from colleagues and helping them understand the corporate policies and guidelines, and working with them on finding ways to solve problems; communicating and coordinating with different departments on recruitment-related issues, day-to-day office operational and administrative matters; general procurements and artistic engagements; pulling things together; and supporting senior management on the planning for the new museum building in the future.

What’s a moment at M+ that you’ll always remember?

The day before the M+ Pavilion opened in 2016, all M+ staff members were able to have a pre-opening visit. Before that, the M+ team had been presenting exhibitions at different locations in Hong Kong in a mobile format—now we finally had our own little art hub to hold exhibitions and experiment in before the M+ museum building is in place. During that visit, I could really feel and experience the existence of M+’s first, newborn art hub. It symbolised that M+ had achieved another significant milestone, and we were getting a step closer to our goal.

Choose a work from the M+ Collections that you like or feel inspired by

Asian Field by Antony Gormley. The whole piece consists of approximately 180,000 sculptural clay figurines, made under the guidance of the artist by around 350 villagers of all ages in Xiangshan village of Guangzhou using hundreds of tons of the local clay and kilns in a local brick factory.

It is a spectacular installation, and absolutely a meaningful and powerful project. It is not just an artwork created by one artist, but created by hundreds of people together. For the participating villagers, this project lets them know that they can touch art, be involved in the creation and manufacturing process of art, feel the taste of art, and express their emotions through art. As the clay figures are made by different people, every figure is unique with its own form, shape, texture, and expression.

A bit more than a year ago, all M+ staff members were invited by our Collection and Exhibition Department to participate in the packing process before the art piece was stored away in M+’s collection storage. Through this opportunity, we were able to touch and feel the figures in the artwork. I felt honoured to have had my little participation in the working process for such amazing masterpiece.

Name one thing you don’t think your co-workers know about you...

I was an artist many years ago. I graduated with training in theatre set and costume design, and had a very short career in that discipline. Due to different factors at different stages of life, I finally developed my career in art administration. Although I am not playing a creative role in the art industry now, my artistic academic background has had a great impact on my sense of colour, aesthetic standards, and critical thinking.

Now, I enjoy photography; just using my cell phone to capture beautiful landscapes, spectacular architecture, as well as the people and lives of a country. This gives me the chance to apply my artistic sense of colour and composition, and express my thoughts and feelings around a particular moment.