RICHARD MARK DOBSON
SERIES NOT FOR SALE
 
FCC Proletariat
 
Hong Kong's Foreign Correspondents' Club is a members-only club and meeting place for the media, business and diplomatic community and remains a noisy bastion of free speech, gossip and hard drinking.
 
Set up on June 23 or June 25, 1949, the FCC was a refuge for correspondents expelled from China after the Communist Party seized power and closed the Shanghai club.
 
Over the past six decades it has thrived, despite shifting locations, to establish itself as the prime stop-off point for photographers and reporters covering the region's big stories, from the Korean War to China's economic juggernaut. Some have dubbed it to be the greatest press club in the world! Certainly it gained immortality in John Le Carre's spy novel "The Honourable Schoolboy". It was during the Vietnam War, when journalists used the then-British colony as a refuge from the frontline, that old hands talk of the club's heyday.
 
The current location of "The Eff," as some members affectionately refer to it, occupies the Old Dairy Farm Depot at the top of Ice House Street, one of the few remaining colonial buildings in the Central district and could be regarded as a historical monument. And there are certainly some members who have been propping up the main bar for so long they could qualify as historical monuments themselves. (joke).
 
Among many of the infamous members and self-created myth-makers, one true journalistic legend I remember with great fondness is the late great Clare Hollingworth, the former Daily Telegraph journalist who broke the story that World War Two had begun. She had her own seat reserved at the main bar.
 
But behind the bravado of barflys, the club is run by a team of loyal staff, and this is what this series is all about. For as I heard, one member who returned to the club for the first time in 20 years was stunned to be welcomed back like an old friend by an eagle-eyed bar staffer, who even remembered his tipple of choice. Hearing this anecdote made me think....
 
I pondered the fact that as an FCC member myself since 1991, and accustomed to seeing some familiar barman faces today that stretch back to the early 1990's, the years of my young adulthood, I realized I still knew so little about these loyal staff who derived their livelihood from serving us. I hardly knew their names, let alone anything about their lives and what had prompted them to devote much of their professional careers to been there for us.
 
So, wanting to get to know them all a little better, I proposed to the management, the idea of producing a compelling, up to date set of portraits of their entire 100 staff.
 
In agreement, I then proceed to produced two sets of portraits. The first more in line visually and aesthetically with my clients corporate needs.
 
The second series, I present here under the banner; FCC Proletariat.
 
I like this title given The Club's long and tenuous relationship with communist mainland China, with it's Marxist/Leninist ideology. Within that system, The proletariat are the social class of wage-earners whose only possession of significant material value is their labour power. However in this particular series and with reference to the FCC and those who work within it, I merely see the staff as loyal attendants to the cause. ie. an institution that is a defender of free speech, in a city where democracy and free speech is receding as China exerts full control. There are even rumors The Club will close for good, if their tenancy contract, set to expire in 2025, is not renewed due to pressure from Beijing.
 
However, with this series, I have no intention to make any sort of political or socio-economic statement. In fact the work has been succinctly summed up so;

'Just goes to show with some creative thought how it’s possible to come up with something unique. A series which made me think at first I was witness to some theatrical set up and a cast from a stage performance. Then I realised they were merely staff from the club.  Ordinary folks, asked to put something of themselves out there, and in a manner, that those visiting the FCCHK wouldn’t normally get to see’.
 
David M. Mitchell.
Artist

 
Richard Mark Dobson
Hong Kong August 2020

FCC Proletariat
Anthony
Food & Beverage Department. Barman. FCC Main Bar
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Joanne
Office Secretary.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Caihua
Housekeeping Department.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Valient
Food & Beverage Department. Wine waiter. FCC Dining Room.
2020

RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Ming
Kitchen Department. Fish Chef.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Thapa # 1
Chef. South Asia Cuisine.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Thapa # 2
Chef. Nepalese Cuisine.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Kit
Sous Chef.
2020

RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Nicholas
Food & Beverage Department. Wine Waiter. Main Bar & Lounge
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
San
Housekeeping Department.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Amanda
Food & Beverage Department. Waitress. Main Bar and Lounge.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Jack
Food & Beverage Department. Head Waiter. Dining Room.
2020

RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Catherine
Human Resources Department.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
John
Food & Beverage Department. Barman. Main Bar and Lounge.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Allen
Food & Beverage Department. Waiter. 1st floor. Dining Room.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Waldo # 1
Veteran Chef. Chinese Cuisine. Catering Department.
2020

RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Waldo # 2
Veteran Chef. Chinese Cuisine. Catering Department.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Jack
Kitchen Department. Chef. Chinese Cuisine.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Ray
Kitchen Department. Chef. South Asian Cuisine.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Kelvin Ng.
IT Manager.
2020

RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Jane
Accounts Manager.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Paul
IT Manager.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Grace
Accounts Manager.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Richard
Wine Captain. 1st floor. Main Dining Room & Verandah.
2020

RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Johnny
Security Department.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Tong
Dining Room Manager.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Karen
Membership & Administration Department.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Liqun
Housekeeping Department.
2020

RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Mary
Housekeeping Department.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Joe
Technician.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Kerry
food & Beverage Department. Waitress. Main Bar & Lounge.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Eric
Kitchen Department. Salad Chef.
2020

RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat
Jagmat
Kitchen Department. Chef. Indian Cuisine.
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Shing
Kitchen Department. Chef. Northern Chinese Cuisine..
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat
William
Kitchen. Department. Chef. Cantonese Cuisnese.
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat
Josephine
Waitress. 1st Floor. Main Didning Room.

RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat
Eddie
Barman. Bert's Bar.
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Ruel
Barman. Bert's Bar.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat
Anson
Barman. 1st floor Main DIning Room.
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Kevin
Waiter. Burton Room.
2020

RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat
Jacky
Barman. Main Bar & Lounge.
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Terence
Waiter. Main Bar & Lounge.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Jackson
Barman. Hughes Room.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Jay
Kitchen Department. Pastry Chef.
2020

RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Cheung # 1
Kitchen Department. Salad Chef.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Cheung # 2
Kitchen Department. Salad Chef.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
David
Kitchen. Cold Meat Chef.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Dicky
Waiter. Main Bar & Lounge.
2020

RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Christine
Head Waitress. Main Bar & Lounge.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Christine # 1
Head Waitress. Main Bar & Lounge.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat
Andrew
Waiter. Main Bar & Lounge.
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Tony
Kitchen Department. Chef. Cantonese Cuisine.
2020

RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
George # 2
Kitchen Departmnt. Trainee/Intern.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
George # 1
Kitchen Departmnt. Trainee/Intern.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Wan
Housekeeping Department.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Ramsey Chan
Accounts Department.
2020

RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Ray
Housekeeping Department.
2020
RICHARD MARK DOBSON FCC Proletariat 2020
Felix
Housekeeping Department.
2020
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