A pair of fingers pressing into skin, with veins taut beneath pale tones. This small gesture leaves a lingering pain. This image is at the heart of Unseen Scars, a hyperrealistic portrayal of body shaming by 19-year-old Faith Wong Tin-laam.
Her work won the painting category in this year’s Wharf Hong Kong Secondary School Art Competition, an annual programme supported by the Hong Kong Museum of Art.
This year, entries came from more than 280 secondary schools, with a panel of art and design professionals selecting 25 outstanding works across painting and digital graphics categories.
Hidden emotional struggles
Wong’s piece was inspired by the offhand remarks she heard: “You should do more exercise,” or “You should eat less.”
Though seemingly minor, these comments cut deep.
The artist likened the feeling to a pinch: “It’s a really small motion, but it hurts so much,” said Wong, who plans to study fine arts at Baptist University after taking a gap year.
The final triptych consists of two panels based on Wong’s body and one based on her friend’s, conveying the intense scrutiny that many people face.
The work’s realism is intentional: the skin darkens under the pressure of fingertips, and shadows highlight the sting.
Wong hopes that these images will resonate with those who have experienced shame and spark a need for awareness about how casual comments can cause harm.
“Sometimes we don’t have the courage to say ‘I feel uncomfortable because you said this about me,’” she expressed. “So I wanted to use art to ... express the discomfort people feel.”
Vitality in urban chaos
Zoe So Lok-ching won the special award and second runner-up in painting with her piece titled「活」力, which translates to “vitality”. In her oil painting, a monochrome self-portrait faces a colour-saturated city.
Electrical cords extend from buildings, while crowds bustle below a sky split between day and night, serving as a metaphor for residents who are perpetually “plugged in” to work, school and screens.
“People’s impression of Hong Kong is vibrant and lively,” explained the 14-year-old from Marymount Secondary School. “But living in a fast-paced, energetic city can be tiring.”
The piece reflects her own feelings of burnout. Like many Hong Kong students, she feels pressure from schoolwork and meeting her parents’ expectations.
Art helps her unplug from the chaos.
“If we’re too plugged in and don’t reconnect with ourselves, we can lose our interests and lose touch with people we appreciate,” she said.
Zoe said she hadn’t found the perfect balance yet, but she hoped that viewers would take a moment to reconnect with themselves and consider whether a vibrant surface truly reflects a vibrant life.
Life’s journey through time
In 人生列車 · 關鍵幀, which translates to “life train – key frames”, digital graphics champion Kelly Mao Yansu depicts childhood, middle age and old age within subway carriages, symbolising how cultural expectations can turn life into a predetermined route.
“People place their happiness on a future point in time, avoiding their current feelings and comforting themselves that hardship now is what’s better for the future,” said the 19-year-old, who aims to study fine arts at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
“Working digitally allowed for more ambitious revisions than traditional media would have permitted.”
Her style draws inspiration from contemporary Chinese artist Zhang Xiaogang’s smooth, surreal portraiture.
To portray life stages she hasn’t yet reached, Mao interviewed adults and elders. She learned that midlife often brings pressures to buy property and secure a job, while in later years, hopes shift to children’s accomplishments.
The process shifted her perspective. Once believing that missing a key moment could ruin her future, she now thinks that “the margin for error in life is greater than we often perceive.”
Celebrating domestic workers
Digital graphics first runner-up Noel Ng Yan-to’s Where’s My Ze4 Ze1 adapts the Where’s Wally picture book format with an overhead view of Victoria Park, inviting viewers to search for Hong Kong domestic helpers.
Growing up with three younger siblings, Ng recognised that domestic workers were often overlooked in her household.
This prompted her to visit Central, Tsuen Wan and Mong Kok, where she chatted with domestic helpers and observed their routines, meticulously noting details from the colour of a hijab to lunch boxes on the grass.
The 18-year-old’s work is part of a larger picture book that maps domestic workers’ presence across Hong Kong.
The book includes interactive tasks such as “Find the helper wearing a blue hijab.”
“I feel like this book can really remind them not to take things for granted,” she said.
When she showed her piece to her family’s helper, the woman immediately shared it with her friends over FaceTime.
Their delight affirmed Ng’s goal – to make domestic helpers feel seen in the city’s visual narrative.
Ng will study visual arts at Baptist University this fall, supported by a Wharf scholarship.
The winning pieces from the Wharf Hong Kong Secondary School Art Competition will be on display at Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui from September 2 – 16, at Times Square in Causeway Bay from September 18 – October 7 and at Plaza Hollywood in Diamond Hill from October 9 – 20.
