Ms Phoebe Hui Fong-wah, a graduate of the School of Creative Media at City University of Hong Kong (CityU), was named Artist of the Year (Media Arts) at the 16th Hong Kong Arts Development Awards.

Ms Hui is an established local artist whose artworks and papers on art have been showcased at Ars Electronica, the MIT Media Lab, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the International Festival of Arts and Ideas.

She views art as a medium for contemplating life, one that she uses to explore the relationship between technology and art as well as the lives and values of people in various eras using an assortment of materials.

Research is an important aspect of the development process behind her artworks, she said. For example, if she needs to know how scientists and artists in history viewed the world, she will seek out books on astronomy and philosophy. Moreover, she will go on exchanges and studies to learn about different media and techniques.

Delighted at winning the award, she thanked the organisations that nominated her, adding that she was glad to see practitioners working so hard to allocate more resources and space to the local art.

Ms Hui graduated from CityU’s Bachelor of Arts in Creative Media programme.

“This inspiring programme taught me about the possibility of integrating technology and art, while the focus on critical-thinking skills boosted my media art career,” she said.

She was selected, as the first Asian and first female, to present the Audemars Piguet Art Commission programme, which was in 2021. Her large-scale art installation The Moon is Leaving Us integrated art and technology to express the Moon’s migration away from Earth.

The artwork was the first to be showcased in Asia by the programme and it was displayed at the Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts and during Art Basel in Hong Kong.

Organised by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, the Hong Kong Arts Development Awards aims to give formal recognition to distinguished local arts practitioners.