Video Works
Video Works
GWAI LO
GWAI LO
Video 2008
PAL video, 10:45 min
Stereo, non-Dialogue
Written and directed: Shahram Entekhabi
Performers: Geonitz Lui and Shahram Entekhabi
Camera: Katie Mok Photographs: Shaila Chung
The Cantonese term “gwai lo” literally translates as “ghost man” and has historically been used to describe Western foreigners in Hong Kong.
GWAI LO is a video work that reflects on questions of cultural identity, perception, and the construction of the “foreigner” within urban space. The title refers to the Cantonese term gwai lo, historically used in Hong Kong to describe Western outsiders. By adopting this charged expression, the work immediately introduces a perspective in which identity is defined through the gaze of others.
The video follows a performative situation in which the figure of the migrant navigates social environments marked by cultural expectations and stereotypes. As in several of Entekhabi’s works, the artist himself embodies the protagonist, staging a character that oscillates between observation and participation.
Rather than presenting a linear narrative, GWAI LO operates as a reflection on the shifting boundaries between belonging and exclusion. The work examines how identity is constantly negotiated within social space and how the figure of the “foreigner” emerges through processes of perception, labeling, and cultural