An Artistic Response to Social Unrest in Hong Kong: Utilizing the Arts to Build Up and Sustain an Understanding and Respectful Community

The 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, commenced in March 2019, were triggered by the introduction of The Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation Bill 2019 by the Hong Kong government. In June 2019, peaceful civil disobedience escalated into violence, signalling the emergence of polarization and antagonism in the city. As of December 2019, an estimated 300,000 excess probable depressive cases and 810,000 suspected PTSD cases were associated with the 2019–20 social unrest. Furthermore with the pandemic, the hopelessness manifested in the city and citizen’s mental wellbeing are of extreme concern. Given the holistic and therapeutic nature of the arts to enhance internal and external resources to achieve well-being and social cohesion, this study aims to stimulate a peaceful, candid social dialogue and explore the arts as a potential way to heal, build up, and sustain an understanding and respectful community. Specifically, through oral history interviews, this qualitative study collects narratives from 8 individuals with diverse artistic backgrounds in order to understand the social phenomenon from a grass-root perspective and explore the capacity of schools and communities to utilize the arts as a peace-building instrument in Hong Kong’s context