The cats of Keith Stevens

Keith Stevens (1926 – 2015) was a British civil servant whose career brought him to the Far East in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaya.

Graduating from London University School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS), Keith was proficient in Mandarin allowing him to research on his 2 parallel interests; Chinese Belief system and cats.

Cats of Hong Kong

With a researcher’s rigour, Keith documented what we believe to be the most comprehensive ethnographic data of cats in 1970s Hong Kong.

Taken from 1973 to 1980, Keith’s photos showed the presence of cats in a wide spectrum of Hong Kong urban landscape.

Keith’s interested in Chinese Belief System cumulated in the publication of “Chinese Gods, The Unseen World of Spirits and Demons”, in 1997.

This work is now an important reference for major museums including the British Museum.

The making of....

Meanwhile, Keith’s ethnographic data of cats awaited discovery.

Thanks to Keith’s long-time friend, the Penang based Ronni Pinsler protected and discovered his collection leading to this opportunity to give cats their rightful place in history.

Through Keith's collection, we get to see a chapter in Hong Kong's history as experienced by the cats.

Cultural symbolism of cats

Without the cultural symbolism of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals, the cats are like animals of the middle path.

They offer companionship, always full of affection and are everywhere. More importantly, they are always there for humans and with lots to offer.

Culturally, cats are neglected without significant cultural symbolism and seldom represented in high culture. It is only in the “age of cuteness” that cats gained social visibility though icons such as the “Hello Kitty”.

Thanks to Keith’s materials, we now have a rare opportunity to cover a gap that the cats truly deserve and to return them to their rightful place in history.

Photo Exhibition World Tour

In 2018, we curated the world tour "Cats of Keith Stevens" photo collection.

Starting in singapore, the exhibition travelled to Hong Kong and Penang. Plans for UK exhibition were held back due to the Covid.

The Documentary

Keith's collection offers an unique opportunity for us to reconsider and to explore the role of cats in our respective societies. More importantly to present them as fellow beings to be loved and cared for.

As we continued to study the collection, we decided to produce the Cat's of Keith Stevens documentary as a tribute to Keith and animal lovers in Hong Kong and around the world.

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