The Hong Kong art world has long suffered from an elitism that sees wealthy collectors and developers inextricably influencing the creation of local work to satisfy an existing market. At least, it did until Natasha Kaye Whiffin returned from her studies abroad to shake up the way local art is produced and accessed. After cutting her teeth at the Asia Art Archive, the launchsite for many of Hong Kong’s yappies (young art patrons), Natasha founded the Young Collector’s Collective, a group of influential makers, patrons, and collectors ready to inject new energy into the art environment. Despite the collective’s relative infancy, its ranks are already an unbridled force in the art world. Natasha now focuses on access: working closely with online platforms to enable the digital world we inhabit to provide art to more people while supporting innumerable nonprofits along the way. All of this in addition to running auction site Paddle8’s Asia office full-time.
