Tung Shing Lei Road, Yuen Long (2014)
Stefan Irvine & Jörg Dietrich
“63-67 Tung Shing Lei Road, Yuen Long
This row of 1930’s village houses, known collectively as “Lau’s Houseâ€, was built by a businessman named Lau Wai To from Taishan City in Guangdong province. Lau started a fish-farming business in the Yuen Long area of Hong Kong, and between 1926 and 1935, he built these four houses and one ancestral hall for his eight sons and their families. Constructed in the architectural style of Lau’s home-village in Taishan, each house is split into two halves, with a courtyard separating each section. Although some of these homes have now been abandoned, most of them are still occupied by families today.â€
Born in London in 1976, Stefan Irvine has been based in Hong Kong since 2002. With a background in photojournalism and commercial photography, the last few years have seen Irvine focus on fine art photography projects. His photographs have been exhibited in New York, London and Hong Kong, as well as appearing in publications including The New York Times, National Geographic, and The Wall Street Journal. He is the winner of the Independent on Sunday/Oxfam Photojournalist Award and his documentary work in Hong Kong was short-listed for the Sunday Times Ian Parry Award and The Observer/Hodge Awards.