“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 first-generation immigrants who can understand parts of the language but don’t know how to speak it. 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.

Gloria Wong (b. 1998) is an emerging artist based on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Her practice primarily uses photography to explore the complexities and nuances of East Asian diasporic identities and the ways they are shaped by different relationships-whether between people, their environments or objects.

www.gloriawong.co

This project has been awarded the Chick Rice Award for Excellence in Photography