Richmond BC, Canada #richmondartgallerybc
Anna Wong’s The Great Wall: #6 (1986) is a layered amalgam of images, techniques, and themes. Here, Wong employs a sophisticated set of techniques, including serigraphy, chine collé, and printing of calligraphy over collaged and hand-coloured surfaces. Wong’s Great Wall series is based on several trips to Mainland China when the country opened up to the West in the 1980s.
Gestural brush strokes seen in Wong’s Chinese calligraphy are not only evidence of her energetic mark-making but also convey an eager connection to her heritage. Wong’s use of the classic script and her romantic depiction of the Great Wall of China reflect her external perspective as a Vancouver-raised first-generation Chinese Canadian artist returning to the “motherland.” The historically complex and famous military fortification is presented with delicate calligraphic strokes and soft pastel hues. Further, Wong hints at a kinship to the iconic landmark by incorporating candid photos from a family trip to the Great Wall.
Biography
Master printmaker and educator Anna Chek Ying Wong 黃綽英 grew up in Vancouver’s vibrant Chinatown. She was the daughter of Chu Man Wing and Wong Kung Lai, who immigrated from Guangdong Province in China. As the fifth of ten siblings, she embraced a caretaker and teacher role for her younger siblings during her parents’ around-the-world trip in 1951. This sparked her interest in teaching art. While her family never severed cultural links to China, Wong sought to reconnect with her family’s heritage by accompanying her father to Hong Kong to look at antiques and art. From 1957 to 1958, Wong studied Chinese painting under Zhao Shao’ang of the Lingnan School in Hong Kong. Soon after returning to Vancouver, she went to Vancouver School of Art (VSA, now Emily Carr University of Art + Design). For her Master’s degree, Wong enrolled at the prestigious Pratt Institute in New York, where she was hired to be a Professor in Studio Arts at the Pratt Graphics Centre after less than a year. During this time, every summer, Wong returned to Vancouver to run a printing workshop in Burnaby and teach at the VSA and Malaspina Printmakers. In 2018, Wong was the subject of a major travelling retrospective and monograph, Anna Wong: Traveller on Two Roads, organized by Burnaby Art Gallery.
Collection Close-up
The presentation of this artwork in the Gallery’s Art Lounge is part of Collection Close-up, an initiative wherein we highlight a work from the Collection, which has a formal or thematic link to the featured exhibition. The Great Wall: #6 is one of 8 works by Wong in the Permanent Collection.
– Maria Filipina Palad
