moom bookshop

This book documents the lives of young Hong Kong asylum seekers (aged 15–25) in the UK, who fled after the 2019–2020 protests. Too young to qualify for the British National (Overseas) visa, many were forced out of education and now live in temporary housing — waiting years, often alone, for asylum to be granted.

Photographer Deacon Lui transformed a suitcase into a pinhole camera to photograph their portraits and personal belongings. Alongside these images are the participants’ hand-drawn memories of home, written daily routines, and disposable camera photos of their new lives. Each person also responded to the same set of 10 questions — including: What does time mean to you? Who do you miss the most? If you could return to Hong Kong for a day, what would you do?

Together with text describing how they arrived in the UK and their reflections, the book explores loss, forced displacement, and memory—asking how we carry on when the home is taken away and becomes a place of no return.

This project was exhibited at Bermondsey Project Space, FORMAT24 Photo Festival, The RPS International Photography Exhibition 166, and Les Rencontres d'Arles 2025. Deacon Lui was also selected as one of 20 Carte Blanche Students by Paris Photo in 2023 for this project.