This research investigates the area of practice commonly known as community art, defined to be where a gathering of people participates in facilitated collaborative art making aimed to be increasing their autonomy in generating artistic and social satisfaction and enrichment. This definition is a result of integrating existing research, literature, interviews with practitioners and analyses of their work. It is an interdisciplinary research conducted through a grounded methodology where data from practitioners and literature mutually inform to yield insights into a seemingly unstructured practice. Seven interviewees were chosen to represent a coherent and recognized body of practice. They are practicing visual and performing artists who specialize in facilitating people of communities in collaborative art process. Each having over 15 years of experience in committed engagement with communities, they are also trainers, educators and professionals in various tertiary, cultural and public institutions. They are either based or are/were committed to the development of community art in Hong Kong, and are all experienced overseas1. Their mix of art disciplines and effectiveness across countries indicate a fundamental connection in their view of art and people that is beyond artistic media and cultural context. Thus, a Hong Kong perspective is provided that may contribute to other metropolitan settings in Asia and worldwide. Guided by the data, this research sought theoretical support for the community artists’ operational concepts of art, people, community and participation. The literature drawn include the ethology of art (Dissanayake, Davies), the nature of the experience of art (Dewey), theories of education (Freire, Dewey), theories of community and individuals (Putnam, McKnight & Block), psychological theories on experience and motivation (Csikszentmihalyi, Ryan & Deci), and theories of social psychology on identity and social belonging (Baumeister & Leary, Aron & McLaughlin-Volpe). This interdisciplinary perspective builds a framework that explains how the artistic and social dimensions in community art, instead of being in compromise, can be synergetic. Of special interest are the untapped aspects of Freire and Dewey’s theories often overlooked by scholars of artistic engagement with communities. Requiring expertise beyond a single scholar, this research proposes only one effective integration of the above disciplines. This research conceptualizes the development of community art to be an interplay of artistic movements, to progressively seek social relevance from object, place, then to people, and at the same time to return art into the hands of the people. It is a practice distinct but in relation to the overlapping categories of the socially engaged arts, dialogical art, community cultural development, community-based art education and public art (Bishop, Cartiere, Goldbard, Kester, Thompson). The shifting definitions have nurtured a blossoming of artist engagement in the society, but has also resulted in miscommunication of what exactly academics, artists and institutions are planning, funding, doing, evaluating and researching. In contrast to an embracive attitude that has unfortunately led to confusion, this research proposes certain defining characteristics for community art, with implications that seek to further the discourse of artistic engagement with communities.

This research investigates the field of modern ink painting, in particular the advocacy of shuimohua (水墨畫, literally water ink painting) which appeared in Hong Kong in the mid-1960s. The research is based on textual materials such as artworks, writings, treatises, newspaper and periodical documentation, as well as interviews with artists or artists’ families. Because of the emergence of numerous terms related to ink painting and ink art in recent decades, it is crucial to trace their origins in order to develop a foundation from which to understand the complexities of the field related to ink. The starting point chosen for this research is the 1960s in Hong Kong which was a period of in which Hong Kong enjoyed much greater freedom in the arts compared to the mainland China and Taiwan. This atmosphere of greater freedom nurtured various new directions for Chinese painting, including the advocacy of shuimohua initiated by Lui Shou Kwan (呂壽琨 1919–1975) who wrote and lectured extensively about his ideas on shuimohua. The advocacy of shuimohua opened a host of possibilities and influenced Lui’s students and contemporaries. Lui stressed the value of sincerity, gen (根 root), shi (適 adaption), inner expression and innovation. Lui held that these are fluid concepts subjected to change according to individuals. Five artists, Hon Chi Fun (韓志勳b. 1922), Irene Chou (周綠雲 1924–2011), Wucius Wong (王無邪b. 1936), Kan Tai Keung (靳埭強b. 1942) and Leung Kui Ting (梁巨廷b. 1945) were selected to examine the impact of shuimohua. These artists are consistent with Lui’s ideas of a broader concept and vision of art, but they all developed their own visual language and style in their artistic paths. There is no evidence of a “Lui’s School” or stylistic resemblance. Another advocate of modern ink painting Liu Kuo Sung (劉國松 b. 1932) and his students, in addition to modern ink painters overseas like Tseng Yuho (曾佑和b. 1924) are also explored to provide a more comprehensive analysis of the scene. Art with the media of ink, such as experimental ink painting, blossomed in mainland China in the 1980s. This research tries to touch upon the evolution and relationship between shuimohua and ink art. Exploring the character of Lui’s advocacy of shuimohua and tracing the origin of terminology related to ink painting and ink art are small but necessary steps to further conversations about the development of ink today. This contributes an historical as well as a Hong Kong perspective that may provide insights into the modernization of ink painting in the larger context of Chinese painting.

The aim of the study is to evaluate the aesthetic qualities of the Hong Kong built environment. To this end, it adopts the framework of the philosophy of architecture in the analytic tradition as proposed by Roger Scruton in his classic The Aesthetics of Architecture, which was first published in 1979. Central to this framework is our aesthetic sense of appropriateness, which leads to a distinctive reading of architecture as an art of the ensemble. From this perspective, the chief architectural task is to establish right visual relations among the parts of a whole. Aesthetically, this results in the desirable aesthetic quality of unity in variety. Morally, the task reflects our nature as social beings, who aim at living peacefully with others. By offering a commonly held compositional pattern established through the execution of details, traditional Western and Chinese styles used to provide architects with the necessary equipment to carry out the task, so that they can fit buildings not in an individualistic manner, but with regard for the tastes of others, resulting in a harmonious and civil built environment. Against this background, the study first examines, and criticises, the prevalent modern and post-modern styles of the local built environment, by showing that they generally lack sufficient consideration for architectural harmonisation, and hence contribute greatly to the incivility of the local built environment. The study then extends its scope from the local context to China in search of an architectural style that is suited to the aesthetic task of harmonisation. The study finds that the Lingnan style established from the late nineteenth to early twentieth century in the Canton region embodies aesthetically significant principles enabling architectural harmonisation, which are rooted in the aesthetic sense and capacity of the region (to which Hong Kong belongs). It thus concludes that the Lingnan style could provide valuable resources for reflection on the establishment of architectural harmony, and hence serve as an important reference for local practices that aim to improve the built environment.

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During postnatal development, visual experience initiates synaptic plasticity mechanisms that guide the refinement and maturation of visual cortex necessary to support the emergence of visual functions. Lack of normal visual experience during development can lead to vision loss, a condition called amblyopia. Additionally, even if our vision developed properly early in life, our vision naturally declines as we age. The mechanisms underlying vision loss associated with amblyopia and aging are not fully understood, and the studies in this thesis were designed to increase our understanding of the neural basis of vision loss through the linkage of synaptic protein expression to changes in vision. In the first part of this thesis, I examined the impact of monocular deprivation on synaptic proteins in visual cortex, and on vision. Using Western blot analysis I showed that monocular deprivation causes a rapid, and sustained loss of AMPAR proteins in the region of cat visual cortex representing the center of vision. Because AMPARs play a key role mediating visual processing, I extended these findings by using behavioural measurements to show that the sustained loss of AMPARs in the central region is correlated with long-lasting binocular acuity deficits that are most severe in the center of vision. These findings showed that disrupting binocular vision early in development leads to experience-dependent changes that are greatest in the center of vision. In the second part of this thesis, I examined age-related changes in the expression of a group of synaptic proteins associated with glutamatergic and GABAergic synapses. I found an age-related decline in the expression of Ube3A, a protein necessary for ocular dominance plasticity, across sensory and non-sensory regions of cat, macaque, and human cortex. However, there was a selective loss of Ube3A relative to other synaptic proteins that occurred only in human cortex. Finally, I found a substantial age-related decline in expression of both glutamatergic and GABAergic synaptic proteins across cat visual cortex, suggesting fewer synapses in aging. Together, the findings from this thesis provide new insight into the neural basis of vision loss, and provide a foundation for the development of therapeutic interventions for cortical vision loss. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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