夜晚該是什麼模樣的?你有多久沒有逃離人為的發光體,抬頭看天上的星空?
Satellite images from NASA reveal distinct boundaries between light and dark on Earth. Places such as North Korea, Afghanistan, Laos, and Somalia come up pitch black, while metropolises in North America and Europe, and cities along the coast of China shine brightly as if it the sun never set.
Darkness dawns naturally upon man as night falls. Light becomes the trophy of man's dominance over nature, electricity and technology symbolises power and wealth.
Hong Kong's skyline at night is mesmerising. LED panels, one larger than the next, hang from buildings all around the city's commercial district. These towering screens drown out the light from withering street lamps. The newest of them hang directly over one of Hong Kong's busiest crossing at Causeway Bay. At 72 meters long, 19 meters wide--roughly the size of 5 tennis courts, those who walk below it are engulfed in a bath of pure brightness.
Looping on these screens are expensive adverts of luxury products, videos and photos of commodities and models waltzing with each other in harmony. These luminous surfaces are mute, but the disturbance they cause surpass that of their audio counterpart. Without making a single sound, these screens silently capture those worthy of its attention. But not everyone is worthy, darkness is always just around the corner, where poverty and fragility lay bare for those who pay attention.
"Why should night be as bright as day?" an old man who lived in the rural area asked a boy in Akira Kurosawa's movie "Dreams", "I wouldn’t like nights so bright, you couldn’t see the stars," the old man said. But the boy couldn’t comprehend the darkness the old man was talking about.
So, how should night be? When was the last time your surroundings were free from these towering screens? When was the last time you lifted your head and saw stars shining above you?