No Time to Stroll is part of an international art project undertaken by artist Sue Williamson. In each city, residents are invited to discuss and vote upon a statement which best describes the essential character of that city. The statement is made up in letters, and the group meets again for the photo shoot,
In Hong Kong, the artist was invited by the Savannah College of Art and Design, Hong Kong, to work with their students.
In a discussion workshop, the students reflected upon their daily lives in the city, expressing the view that everything was "rush rush rush".
Their final statement was No Time to Stroll. The letters spelling this out were made at SCAD, using rounded letterforms, and edged with blue lighting strips, a visual reference to the famed Hong Kong neon lights.
The students took Williamson around the city looking for the right location for their message, and the final location was outside the city’s largest department store, SOGO.
The students held up their message, and were photographed word by word, standing between the bus lanes. In the first frame, the crowds are on the far kerb, waiting for the lights to change. The minute the lights turn green, everyone dashes across the road, phones to their ears, intent in reaching the other side: frames two and three. No one is smiling.
In the final frame, the lights have changed back again to red, so the crowd must wait – except for one couple who did not cross fast enough and are trapped between the bus lanes. With their large suitcases suggesting out-of-towners, the woman claps her hand across her mouth, as a bus passes her.
Indeed, in Hong Kong, there is no time to stroll.
