Stefan Canham & Rufina Wu

Stefan Canham (England, 1968) studied film at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg. Since then he has worked as a freelancer on documentary photo and film projects. He focuses his work on the way in which space is utilised in urban areas, particularly by people on the fringes of society. Together with Rufina Wu (Hong Kong, 1980), Canham was an artist in residence in Hong Kong, where the two collaborated on Portraits From Above (2008). This project won them third prize in the International Bauhaus Awards (2008). Wu studied environmental science and architecture in Canada and splits her time between Hong Kong, Toronto and Vancouver. She focuses her work on the informal housing tactics associated with rapid urban development and population mobility.

All the major political developments in China in the 20th century, such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, led to a huge increase in the number of mainland Chinese seeking refuge in Hong Kong. But this city only has a limited amount of building land. Portraits From Above shows how that problem has been solved by building on the roofs of high-rise buildings. In this way, informal rooftop communities have been created on the Hong Kong skyline. Architectonic drawings and photos of these rooftop structures highlight this unusual phenomenon, and accounts of the residents’ stories and photos of their domestic interiors offer an unprecedented insight into everyday life on Hong Kong’s rooftops.