Ports of Entry explores what it means to be Chinese in Canada.
This body of work was researched and conceptualized from 2018 - 2021, culminating in an extended trip through British Columbia in 2021, to research the history of Chinese settler migration from the late 1800s. My trip wound along the Gold Rush Trail and alongside the railway routes carved into the mountainsides by Chinese labourers. I recorded the juxtapositions of the celebrated histories and landmarks with the indelible marks left on the landscape by the labour of Chinese settlers. Movement and migration write on to the landscape who has privilege, who must pay, who is held apart and separate.
This multi-media exhibition encompasses traditional drawings and paintings, juxtaposed with animated and interactive artwork.
Ports of Entry
Single channel video, 4:55
Original artwork by Janet Wang
Animations by Nastenka Alava & Yejin Kim
Sound design & original composition by Micah Meuleman
2021
Created with the generous support of the BC Arts Council
Single channel video, 4:55
Original artwork by Janet Wang
Animations by Nastenka Alava & Yejin Kim
Sound design & original composition by Micah Meuleman
2021
Created with the generous support of the BC Arts Council
Ghosts of Gum San
Digital drawings printed on Tyvek
.7 m x 10m
Installation at the Sunshine Coast Arts Council Gallery
2022
Welcome to Gold Mountain
Interactive game
2023
Click here to play online
Interactive game
2023
Click here to play online
Joss House
Marigold dye, Chinese and foraged black walnut ink
on cold-pressed watercolour paper
20x 30 inches
2021
In the collection of the Art Bank of Canada
Marigold dye, Chinese and foraged black walnut ink
on cold-pressed watercolour paper
20x 30 inches
2021
In the collection of the Art Bank of Canada
Altar (Barkerville)
Marigold dye, Chinese and foraged black walnut ink
on cold-pressed watercolour paper
20x 30 inches
2021
In the collection of the Art Bank of Canada