When Berlin native Alexandra Unrein moved to Hong Kong several years ago, she quickly fell for the city’s dynamic street art. So much so that she began running dedicated tours. Her Wanderlust Walks snake through the alleys to reveal giant, abstract graphics, plastered across entire fa?ades, as well as the subtle glyphs and symbols that blend into the clutter of the city.
“In comparison to the western world, street art all around Asia is still incredibly underrated and often goes unnoticed,” says the former flight attendant. “Hong Kong is, unfortunately, no exception.”
Unrein aims to remedy this. When I visited in March, I took a tour that begins in the Sheung Wan area on Lower Lascar Row. In a quiet courtyard under a bloom of bougainvillea — and the shadows of dozens of floors of high-rise housing — we encounter two striking figures embracing in a flurry of heart-shaped, green and red leaves. “Stories in the Wind” (2023) is the work of Italian artist Marco Zedone, better known as Zed1. Inspired by both the surrounding foliage and the colours of the city as a whole, his Pop-Surrealist image broaches the question of chance meetings and relationships, the winds of fate buffeting the characters about like the leaves — real and painted — around them.