Lieu Ngon Kay, 1951

Growing up in Oakland's Chinatown, Flo Oy Wong created mixed-media pieces reflecting her family's past. "Lieu Ngon Kay, 1951" is part of Wong's series "made in usa: Angel Island Shhh'' which is an exploration of identity secrets of Chinese immigrants detained and interrogated in the United States from 1910 to 1951. Wong wanted to tell the stories from a woman’s point-of-view of her mother and mother-in-law. Because of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Law, both women had to alter their identities for their entire lives. Wong's mother, Gee Suey Ting, entered this country legally in 1933 posing as her husband's sibling making her a “paper sister.” Wong's mother-in-law was a “paper mother” to her brother.

The rice sack in the center (a symbol for Wong's childhood) has a hand painted border of the word “interrogate” as reference to the interrogation process all immigrants from China went through at either the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay or at Ellis Island. Wong hand painted each immigration secret in red, white, and blue, in reference to the colors of the U. S. flag. The actual secrets are done in white to make it difficult for viewers to read the concealed stories.

Techniques: Hand painting
Culture: American
Geographic Location: North and Central America, United States
Credit Line: Gift of the Artist