Hong Kong’s Fortune Teller Shops Photographed by Kris Vervaeke

“The more good fortune one can provide, the better the business.” Such is the business model of the fortune-teller shops behind a Taoist temple in Hong Kong, China photographed by Belgium photographer Kris Vervaeke. Totaling about 100, each fortune-teller office looks like a storefront that might offer a different service than what’s being advertised inside. Vervaeke photographs each of the shops straight-on, showing about the same amount of visual information in each. This adds to an eerie sense of similitude as we pan across each fortune-teller and their accompanying interior, making it hard to distinguish one from any of the others. Do they differ, we wonder?

For some of these fortune-tellers, the job has been passed down from each generation to the next, while others learn it from a master. Many act more as a sort of counselor on personal or family matters for their clients whenever needed. Is this a business or an art? Can one buy good fortune? Vervaeke hopes to address this and other questions in his upcoming book of fortune-teller shops that he’s currently working on, wherein he plans on having his fortune read “by as many [fortune tellers] as possible.” What will they tell him? All shall be revealed…

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