What does Peng Chau look like after dark, from the perspective of someone waiting for a bite?

For Night Fishing with a Straight Hook in Peng Chau, artist and anthropologist Benjamin Kidder Hodges spent time alongside the island’s fishermen, following the quiet rhythm of fishing after nightfall, with its waiting, watching, and listening to the water.

Inspired by the historical legend of Jiang Taigong fishing with a straight hook held three feet above water (immortalised in the idiom ‘When Jiang Taigong goes fishing, only the willing get hooked’), the project experiments with new tools like illuminated fishing floats and lure cameras, so that only the willing images can be captured by the artist.

The resulting art installation offers a different view of Peng Chau after dark, shedding some light on the quiet rhythms of the shore, the sea, and the unseen life beneath the surface.