Retrieval, Restoration, and Predicament Objects, Memories and Records in Wartime

This chapter documents the research process for the work of the same title, The Retrieval, Restoration, and Predicament (2018–2020), and reflects on how public memory develops in parallel beyond the archives. The chapter recollects the history of colonial bronze statues in Hong Kong and examines how the cycle of confiscation, melting, and restoration bears witness to the transformation of a symbolic representation and how people face the transition of identity.