We were invited by the government of Hong Kong SAR to participate in the Shanghai Expo in October. We exhibited a project that we had presented previously in Hong Kong as part of the “Budding Winter” programme launched by the Home Affairs Bureau last year.

Our project was called “Wood Heart Observation” in which we took photos of a park and wrote messages behind the pictures. Visitors to the park could then exchange their own photos taken in the park with the artists. The work attempts to link people who do not know each other through the exchange of photos and messages.

Attending the Expo in Shanghai was an amazing experience. We had the chance to show our work to a lot of different people from all over the world. It was a very educational experience for a number of reasons. One is that we had to use Putonghua to communicate since the visitors who came to our show came from all over mainland China, and another is meeting so many wonderful people.

In general, the visitors were very optimistic. They were glad to talk to us and share their views. Because of the nature of our project, people also left their own photos and contact details as a further level of exchange. Someone even wrote a poem on the back of photo of themselves.

There were also a lot of artists from different universities in attendance, giving us ample opportunity to share ideas and learn from each other. In turn, this experience helped us to improve our communication skills because we had to explain our artwork and discuss the work of the other artists. After a week in Shanghai, our Putonghua improved a lot!

In terms of our professional education, the Expo experience cannot be beaten. We are sure that curators or other galleries owner may appreciate the fact that we exhibited in Shanghai, which will surely help us in the job market in the future.

We have also received a huge confidence boost because our work was so well received. We used to think being an artist was just for fun but we now see how important it is for us to continue to learn and grow.

We would like to thank the Hong Kong SAR government for launching the activity “Budding Winter” and giving us a chance to go to the Shanghai Expo and share our work. We would also like to thank staff and colleagues at CityU who helped us attend the event.

Special mention also goes to Ms Phoebe Man Ching-ying of the Community Art Network and an assistant professor in the School of Creative Media at CityU. She provided us with such great technical support and encouragement through “Budding Winter” in Hong Kong and at the Shanghai Expo.

We would also like to thank each other! We worked well as a team and could not have achieved any of this without the support of the other.