Felix Tang is a graduate from Baptist University, Academy of Visual Arts. Since the outbreak of the protest between June 2019 to now in Hong Kong, much pro-democracy propaganda has appeared across the street, the government attempts to erase these images almost as quickly as they appear, after this action by the government, there are many traces and marks left on the street by the glue. Artist Felix Tang noticed those glue-mark patterns and felt they would be an interesting element representative of the atmosphere on the streets, which he has chosen to use in his artworks.
As a graffiti artist, he is well aware of Graffiti culture’s rule on the street. If a Graffiti artist doesn’t like a certain Graffiti work, he or she will create a new one next to it, resulting in a situation like a battle on the wall, where the audience will be the judge. If the challenger removes or covers a work by others, the action will be considered disrespecting, and the creator of that certain work will usually go find the works of the challenger and destroy them as a revenge. From the perspective of Graffiti culture, according to the above rule, the Hong Kong Government is disrespecting the Hong Kong protester, in other words, this can be regarded as a challenge for the protester. In the process of his work, Anti Words《反話語》2020, Felix Tang used this idea to cover the text on government documents, just like the measures done by the Hong Kong Government. Rather than to explain reasons for covering the text he relies on the rule of Graffiti culture to set it apart from political interpretation. The Hong Kong Government is the character of the challenger and the artist is the avenger. This is an attempt to reproduce Graffiti history in a current event. As the avenger, Tang finds his opponents works (government document - Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistances in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019) and destroys it back.