Monday 20 January — Friday 30 May 2025

Echoes: China & Hong Kong

Voicing the collection

Echoes invites audiences to engage with the collection of the Portico Library and the communities who are reclaiming the colonial narrative written and illustrated in the Library's books. It seeks to navigate Britain’s complex colonial relations with China and Hong Kong, by centring the voices of the five Critical Friends who have co-created the exhibition. Bruce Lai, Deborah Ng, Jessie Tam, Yichao Shi and Manchester School of Art alumna, Jasmine Gardner, reflect on and distil their responses to the historic collection. 

Jasmine Gardener commented that "collaboration was a very key part of this project, especially for myself as my lived experience is significantly different to the other Critical Friends who were not adopted from mainland China into a white family from Essex from the age of 7 months old. It was important and interesting to see of all their perspective and interests channelling into one project. I really valued learning from Jessie, Yichao, Bruce and Deborah and hope to stay connected to them post exhibition".

Jasmine's work features over 100 pieces of work including an 8m long handmade papercut sail, titled ‘I think you’re wrong . . . England isn’t racist, I never hear any racism’ – A white man from Essex named Andrew, 2020' which refences the duality of an ancient art and the quick sharp feeling one gets when receiving comments like the work’s title. As the exhibition’s literature is stemming from the Voyages and Travels section, the peice appropriately refences the journey between the East and West through a sail and an abstracted water-like motif.

Her work also entails a series of spider-like creatures, titled 'A sudden influx of swarms of hideous chattering Chinese coolies - Major Henry Knollys, 1885' made up of visual representations of microaggressions and comments laced with xenophobia. The work and its title draw inspiration from a quote found in the second chapter of  English Life in China (1885). 

Speaking on the instillation of thse 100+ pieces, Jasmine said: "It took a particular workflow to produce that many artworks by hand but remembering what they  represent and mean to me and people like myself kept me going" 

Find out more about the exhibition 

Find out more about Jasmine Gardener's work - Home | Jasmine Gardner

Photo Credit: Lewis Chetcuti