Outside the entrance to this Wanchai construction site, at first glance/thought, these upside-down workers’ helmets are a way of adding a splash of green to a palette otherwise dominated by grey (concrete) and fluorescent orange (safety tape).

Upon closer look/thought, though, what if these are a different take on the “number of days since accident” boards that one often sees outside of construction sites? Could it be that these helmets are a morbid reminder of colleagues’ past mistakes or involvement in accidents? An error the implied severity of which no longer requires them to use their helmet?

Keep pulling on the thread of these helmets being arranged in this way as a memorial/warning for a moment, and take stock of the differences in emotional weight you feel between seeing the abstraction of a number on a board (the number of days since the last accident occurred) and seeing the helmet of a departed colleague sprouting a shrub from it.