Exile to the Red Planet
Exile to the Red Planet, featured in the FotoFest Biennial 2024 Central Exhibition in Houston, Texas.
The Story :
Exile to the Red Planet is the selected project of the New Light XIII program by Lumenvisum, Hong Kong, and was first featured in the gallery in 2022.
Press release on Lumenvisum’s website.
If the tree weren’t allowed to survive here, what if it could migrate to Mars?
This is the story of a banyan tree that almost didn’t make it. For decades, it has stood resiliently near my home in Hong Kong, growing quietly on a slope. But in 2020, the Owner’s Committee proposed cutting it down to save on maintenance costs. While my neighbours supported its removal, I could not.
I documented the tree’s final days and reached out to the Conservancy Association (a Hong Kong NGO dedicated to environmental and heritage conservation), which confirmed it was healthy and should be preserved. This journey led me to explore banyan and stonewall trees across Hong Kong, uncovering their deep-rooted histories and cultural significance. I became fascinated by their sculptural forms and remarkable resilience. These living beings have managed to thrive because of the city’s unique history, layered landscape, and social fabric.
Then I saw NASA’s Perseverance rover landing on Mars. Inspired by this vision, the migration wave of people leaving Hong Kong, and a growing sense of global unrest, I took an image from the rover’s expedition and planted the banyan tree onto the Martian surface. Using the anthotype method, I harnessed turmeric from Earth to create a print portraying the banyan tree flourishing in the red Martian landscape, a future wherein the tree is cultivated in a space alien and inaccessible to destructive forces. However, the resulting image, echoing the planet’s rusty hues, is destined to fade slowly over time. This project reimagines displacement, survival, and hope, mirroring our own search for belonging in uncertain times.
'Exile to the Red Planet' is featured in the Central Exhibition of the FotoFest Biennial 2024 in Houston. And one of the images from the project is recently acquired by SFMOMA (The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art).
Stone wall trees in King George V Memorial Park, Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, many Chinese Banyan trees grow humbly on slopes and retaining walls, earning them the name ‘Stonewall Tree’. Researching the stories of these trees, I began to photograph them throughout the city. At more than a century old, some banyans predate most of Hong Kong’s structures. Their roots penetrate deep into the soil, anchoring slopes and protecting both land and human life.
A Damaged Negative
Image of a banyan tree in King George V Memorial Park, Hong Kong.
A Red Planet.
A fig from the Chinese banyan.
“When I saw NASA’s footage of the Perserverance rover landing on Mars, I decided to relocate the Banyan tree to the captivating planet, giving it a second life in my fiction.”
Banyan tree spotted on Mars
The tree is visible between 1:50 - 2:05.
Original footage belongs to NASA.
2022, Exile to the Red Planet, A Solo Exhibition by Caleb Fung, Lumenvisum, Hong Kong.
Click HERE for more installation shots.
Video Documentation of City Magazine 號外, issue 550, August 2022.
Click HERE for the full article.
King George V Memorial Park, Hong Kong
100 x 67 cm ( also available in 60 x 40 cm )
Archival pigment print on metallic paper, acrylic face-mounted
Limited edition of 3 ( + Artist’s proof )
If you are interested, check it out HERE.
