Abandoned wooden objects, LED lightboxes and C-prints
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Extracted from nature to serve human needs, trees are shaped into furniture, tools, and structures, only to be worn down, discarded, and eventually returned to the earth. Stripped of roots and branches, what remains is merely the “body” — a silent shell bearing traces of use, time, and transformation.
In Bodies, Tang Kwok-hin collects abandoned wooden objects from ruins and refuse stations across Hong Kong. He photographs these discarded items, then digitally strips away all color and non-wood elements, isolating their raw wooden forms. These purified images are presented as C-prints within LED lightboxes, transforming the humble remnants of everyday objects into luminous, almost sculptural presences.
The work reflects on the life cycle of natural materials within consumer culture: from living organism to functional object, from utility to waste. The gentle, earthy brown tones of wood — once modest and unassuming — are often concealed beneath layers of paint, varnish, and human design. By returning these objects to their essential wooden “bodies,” Tang reveals both their original dignity and the inevitable entropy of material culture.
