Published in Visual Studies
Ethnography foregrounds micro-experiences and everyday recurring activities. Ethnographic observation through walking, also described as footwork, can be instrumental in topic problematisation and field engagement. Experimenting with mobile ethnography and a visual-sonic repertoire, I study the aesthetics of interconnected communities, systems and temporalities across two island jurisdictions on China’s southern coast, Macao and Hengqin. The research develops around the notion of ‘readability’. Macao-Hengqin affinities are brought about by the observational knowledge of citizens living within an infrastructurally augmented island-world (what is readable). This knowledge may or may not correspond to normative comprehension of policy papers (what is to be read). Conceptually, ‘readability’ shifts the focus away from officeholders and towards the mundane processes of sensing, understanding and remembering.
Photos of Hengqin, October to December 2023, @Kaian Lam
Kaian Lam 林嘉欣 