Alongside A Sea Of Words for Portsmouth our large-scale immersive event, this is an opportunity to hear from the artists themselves, from the project concept to delivery.

Leading Hong Kong-based interdisciplinary artists, designers and participatory project curators, Kingsley Ng and Stephanie Cheung transform everyday materials into poetic, sensory experiences, exploring themes of migration, belonging and connection. This project is an evolution of their earlier installation Over The Ocean, which premiered in Hong Kong in 2017.

Rooted in Portsmouth’s maritime past, A Sea of Words for Portsmouth reflects life’s voyages and amplifies hidden voices. The participatory activity began in June 2025, when Kingsley and Stephanie visited Portsmouth during Refugee Week and worked with 432 Nomads to collect ocean-related stories from local communities. These stories will be shaped into the immersive installation.

Visitors to the installation will tune in to a sea of words penned by people from all over Portsmouth, listening, reading and imagining voyages of life and then launching their own paper boats in a microscopic ocean. As these little boats cross paths on illuminated waves and touch off resounding notes, people from all walks of life share a moment of togetherness. Beyond spectacle, the work will be a space for diverse communities to come together for art-mediated conversations.

This site-responsive work builds on an artistic dialogue that began in Hong Kong, when our Artistic Director Rachel first connected with the artists through a UK / Hong Kong arts exchange trip. Their exploratory visit to the Solent region in 2023 further deepened the collaboration, as they engaged with local sites and histories to inform the project’s development