Two Systems” is a series of artworks by Ryan Jakubek, created through screen printing with contrasting materials and imagery to explore ideological tensions. The work combines photography, painterly gesture, text, and paper layering to consider Hong Kong’s shifting position between two governing systems. The principal contrast is between a candid photograph and a red brushstroke across it, looming over the depicted city and people.

The position and style of the brushstroke is intended to suggest the influence of the National Security Law that passed in 2020. This law is often viewed as ending Hong Kong’s autonomous status as defined by the Sino-British Joint Declaration that came into effect in 1997 and was intended to last for at least fifty years. These two visual elements represent two systems, one layered over the other but unable to erase the first.

The addition of selected excerpts from the two documents references specific contradictions. These textual components were printed on different papers, then torn and layered using the shape of Hong Kong’s flag as a mask. The flag’s characteristic bauhinia is centered on an individual depicted in the photograph, inviting viewers to consider the impact not only to the region, but also upon the people who call it home.

Screen-print and collage on Japanese paper
100 × 120 cm
2025
Not on sale