Jeeyun Kim’s m<other> in Hong Kong: a free photography exhibition on family, identity and belonging
At Asia Society Hong Kong Center until November 8, a project begun in 2010 connects mothers, children and their homes, alongside a new 200-page bilingual book.
What can a family photograph preserve when “Where are you from?” has no simple answer? Jeeyun Kim’s m<other> 光影廊道 is on view in the Lighting Passage at Asia Society Hong Kong Center from October 9 to November 8, 2026. Admission is free, Tuesday to Sunday, 11:00–18:00. Begun in 2010, the photographic project moves from the intimacy between mothers and children towards how interracial and multicultural families understand their identities.
The cover of the 2026 m<other> 光影廊道 book uses a cropped figure composition against red.
From similar faces to different living spaces
Born in Korea and based in Hong Kong, Kim works with photography and video and has also lived in New York and Shanghai. Her own multicultural family experience provided a starting point for the long-term project. Early images move close to mothers and young children, making bodily similarities and differences visual clues. Later, the camera steps back to include furniture, objects and domestic space; adoptive families have recently joined the conversation.
This shift means viewers need not search only faces for answers. Pictures on a wall, the positioning of objects and the distance between people and a sofa can all affect how a family portrait is read. Objects can raise questions, however, without determining someone’s nationality or cultural belonging. Interviews with mothers and children accompany the project, offering a chance to hear how the sitters describe themselves rather than look only at their appearance.
How does a 2023 photograph bring the home into a portrait?
The m_other_ #18 image included here dates from 2023 and comes from Museum Hanmi’s official artist archive in Korea as a reference for the project. It is not a view of the Hong Kong exhibition space. Two people stand barefoot, surrounded by a vase, sculpture, pictures on the wall, a wooden chair and a sofa. The figures no longer fill the entire frame, giving their surroundings a clear place. Compare their stance, then follow how nearby objects direct the eye, without rushing to invent an unverified family story.
m_other_ #18, 2023, shown as a reference for the photographic project rather than a Hong Kong installation view.
The Hong Kong exhibition occupies the Lighting Passage of the historic Miller Theater. Asia Society Hong Kong Center President S. Alice Mong points to the building’s British utilitarian brickwork and Chinese roof tiles as an example of different cultural inheritances existing together without becoming uniform. Applied to the portraits, that perspective shifts attention from identifying “which part comes from where” towards how people live within multiple relationships.
Beyond free admission: the new book is still on pre-order
The accompanying 2026 book is published by Asia One and edited by Caitlin Liu. It is a 200-page softcover in English and Chinese, measuring 28 by 21.6 cm. The Center’s official shop lists it at HK$280, with shipping calculated separately at checkout. It is currently a pre-order, with delivery expected in the first week of November. Alongside portraits and interviews with mothers and children, the book includes interviews with scholars and other specialists, extending the conversation into psychology, anthropology and art history.
The Center is at 9 Justice Drive, Admiralty. Artist-led tours on October 17 and 24 have already ended; those reservation slots should not be read as events still available today. General exhibition admission remains free during the hours above. Check the official exhibition page for arrangements. Try looking at a photograph first, reading the interview next, then returning to the same expression and room to see how words change that initial encounter.
