Support the City of Darkness

I had written about the City of Darkness before, but it is time to revisit the Kowloon Walled City. Not in a literal sense, but visually.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal released the short documentary City of Imagination: Kowloon Walled City, 20 Years Later.

But they are not the only ones revisiting Kowloon Walled City 20 years after its demolition (thanks for the tip, Rik!). Photographers Greg Girard and Ian Lambot are publishing a new edition of their book “City of Darkness,” the most comprehensive publication on the place to date.

First published in April 1993, City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City remained in print for almost 20 years, an extraordinary record for book of this kind. The interest in the Walled City continues and so another reprint is under way, to mark the 20th anniversary of both the City’s demolition.

The original book was text-heavy (maybe to resemble the life in the walled city?) and there was no real storyline to follow, everything was jumbled up, jumping from alley scenes to factory interiors to external views to personal interviews. This time, the images will have more space, there will be a couple of new images and a different order/structure.

The revised edition will be hardbound with around 350 photographs set out over some 300 pages. It will be printed in China in late April and is due to be launched in Hong Kong in early June. You can support it by visiting kickstarter and donating until April 19, 2014.