Gloria Wong (b. 1998) is a Vancouver-based visual artist, working primarily in photography. Her practice explores the complexities and nuances of East Asian diaspori identities and the ways they are shaped by different relationship-whether between people, their environments or objects.
She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from Emily Carr University of Arts & Design (2020), and she has recently been awarded the Carole Badgley Emerging Artist Award and the Chick Rice Aqard for Excellence in Photography.
About sik teng mm sik gong (pardon my chinese) – words by Gloria Wong:
“sik teng mm sik gong (pardon my chinese)” consists of a series of large format 4×5 photographs that are part of an investigation into Asian-Canadian diasporic identity and the ways that it manifests through familial relationships, domestic spaces and objects. This work takes up aspects of the everyday to visualize the things “in between” that make up this identity: between care and neglect, sterility and warmth, belonging and alienation. The title of the work refers to a common Cantonese phrase in the Hong Kong-Canadian diaspora about second generation immigrants who can understand parts of the language but don’t know how to speak it.
Much of my practice has been informed by the experience of being brought up in an Asian-Canadian context, but not exactly belonging to either. Being the child of immigrants from Hong Kong specifically further complicates this identity too, as Hong Kong today exists in a space that is neither fully British or Chinese. My interest in exploring this hyphenated, in-between space emerged as a result of this upbringing. Although this liminality creates a fragmented sense of identity, it also allows for possibilities to emerge that aren’t as heavily burdened by specific histories and traditions. Even though this work is exploring a narrative that is common for many people, it is also a way of looking at my own identity, the self and how it is formed as a result of these intersections of family, immigration, diaspora. Through a combination of portraits and still lifes, these photographs attempt to portray the complexities and nuances of this Asian-Canadian identity, while being conscious of overt stereotypical signifiers.
