Richmond BC, Canada #richmondartgallerybc
Learn about the artistic journey of Montreal-based artist Mary Sui Yee Wong in this exclusive online event. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Vancouver’s Chinatown, Wong has been a vital force in Montréal’s Chinese Canadian community, mentoring artists of the Asian diaspora and shaping the city’s artist-run scene. She will share insights into her decades-long career, exploring themes of activism, mentorship, and the intersection of art and community. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear her reflections on art, motherhood, and advocacy.
Session Format:
About the Presenter:
Mary Sui Yee Wong is a Montreal based multidisciplinary artist who immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong in 1963.
Wong’s work draws inspiration from personal memory, cultural herstory, and familial legacy to explore a hybrid ‘self’ as social construct. Wong is fascinated with how post-colonial Orientalism is marketed, disseminated, and consumed within a global economy. Presently, Wong is exploring alternative narratives to shed light on the disquiet of anti-Asian/antiChinese sentiment driven by racial neoliberalism. Working across disciplines that include sculpture, installation, video, and performance Wong endeavors to defy fixedness in art as an act of resistance.
Wong has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally. Most notably, in 2021, Wong presented a second iteration of an earlier work titled “Sing Juk Sing” in the exhibition Whose Chinatown Examining Chinatown Gazes in Art, Archives, and Collections, curated by Karen Tam at the Griffin Curatorial Project, North Vancouver B.C. In 2012, her original line of faux fashion “Yellow Apparel” was presented in Fashionality: Dress and Identity in Contemporary Canadian Art, at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and in 2010, a series of banners titled “Ja Na Da Ren”, was installed in the De-Materialized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.
Wong has been an active member of the artist centers and community organizations as board member of Oboro Gallery (2011-2013) and Optica Gallery (1998-2003). She was past president of Little Pear Garden Collective, a Chinese performance group in Toronto (2004-2011). Wong is an honorary member of Yuet Sing Music Association in Montreal since 1990 and she maintains a deep connection with the Chinese community as advocate and mentor. Wong completed her MFA in 2003 at Concordia University where she has been a teaching in the Studio Arts department for the past two decades. She is also an affiliate faculty and co-founder of the BFA in Socially Engaged Arts program at Goddard College, Vermont, USA.
The Artist Salon Series features art professionals leading inspirational artist talks and professional development for visual artists each month from February to November. Programs are either live-streamed via the Zoom platform or hosted in person. Past livestreams may be viewed as videos on the RAG@Home video page.
