Everyone who walks past Central on a good day has experienced having to dodge the crowds constantly milling around the junction of Lyndhurst Terrace, Hollywood Road, and Graham Street. Chances are, 90 percent of these people are waiting their turn to pose against the mural round the corner from the G.O.D. flagship store, which has become hugely famous since making the rounds on social media.
The creative mind behind this piece of public art is Alex Croft, a British-born Hong Kong resident. Croft was 12 years old when his family relocated here from Bahrain in 2001, and he distinctly recalls Hong Kong’s buildings making a big impression on him. “The architecture really stood out to me. [They] are so different to what I was used to seeing.” He had to grapple with learning Cantonese—an ongoing process to this day—but with his parents moving around the world, Croft was already used to meeting all sorts of people, and quickly established lasting friendships here.
He does think knowledge of the Cantonese language, or rather a lack thereof, is a barrier to getting to “real local culture,” and laments the fact that even through the years he still sometimes “feels like an observer—sort of just [looking in] from the outside.” A contemplative look settles over Croft’s boyish features as he muses, “I think I’m an expat [because] I wasn’t born here, but I feel at home here... I guess I’m a local expat.” His sense of diasporic displacement is ubiquitous among expats everywhere, but Croft puts a positive spin on the difficulties, maintaining that integrating into local society is already easier in Hong Kong because English is so highly used, allowing for more opportunities to bring people together. That’s why for Croft, “Hong Kong [is] a great place to meet people from all over the world.”