Watching from Afar
A Data Portrait During Hong Kong's Anti-ELAB Protests

I started following the Anti-ELAB protests in Hong Kong intently since July 1, 2019 — checking the news, reading up on forums and watching livestreams — every moment awake, or half-awake. This daily act has become a huge part of who I am, as if by doing so I could bridge the immense disconnect and guilt I feel 8,000 miles away from events I deeply care about.

I collected screenshots from September 11, 2019*, taking a photo and recording information about its content and time accessed everytime I actively search for information pertaining the protests, or came across information on my social media accounts.

The following visulization contains: 0 entries, 0 are from direct search, 0 are from browsing social media, and 0 are forwarded from friends or family.

*Data between Sep 21-28 are affected by my trip to Japan, during which I assisted the installation of an art project. Sep 21-22: A 30 hours travel from New York to Okayama, Japan. Sep 23-27: Data are recorded in local time in Japan.

Credits: Sukanya Aneja, Hayk Mikayelyan, Rui An, Vince Shao, Mark Lam