Mary Enyit Guaw Jong’s exhibition of paintings brings together her identity as a second-generation Chinese Canadian and her experience growing up as a market gardener in the agricultural community of Armstrong, B.C.
Through using the circle, her canvases act as portals to sublime valleys and lakes, dreamscapes of a world not unlike our own. In Chinese cosmography, the earth is thought of as flat with four corners, while heaven exists above in a circular canopy over the earth. Meanwhile, In Chinese symbology, the circle also represents perfection and completeness. It is often a cultural reference to the moon, a significant character in Jong’s work.
Scenes of speckled moons appear, rising out of a swell of the clouds billowing over the mountain ranges of an autumn’s dusk. The completion of an auspicious moon often signifies prosperity and a reunion of a family as a whole. Together with her sisters, Jong’s name “Enyit Guaw,” is named after the Chinese moon goddess, and here, the moon becomes a self-portrait and reference to her family.
In working the rich fertile bottomland to grow vegetables alongside her family, Jong also draws upon her inspiration of the earth, sky, water and mystical beauty of the Okanagan Valley. Colourful quilted valleys, ascending celery stalks, and gnarled apple trees, vacant of leaves from the first frost of winter, appear in otherworldly scenes that reference Jong’s life. Through her series of paintings, a unity is found between the grounding of the earth and the heavenly sky above.
This exhibition is curated by Asia Jong and will be on view from November 6 - 27, 2021 in the Members’ Gallery.
Mary Enyit Guaw Jong is a second generation Chinese Canadian born and raised in Armstrong, BC. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Victoria where she majored in printmaking, etching and serigraph and she is now exploring the medium of acrylics.
She has been featured in many exhibitions throughout BC such as Vancouver, Victoria, Kamloops, Prince George, Kelowna, Vernon, and Armstrong.
Asia Jong is Mary Jong’s daughter. She is a curator and arts facilitator based on unceded Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territories (Vancouver, Canada). She co-runs Ground Floor, a collective that supports early emerging artists and operates through the values of care, hospitality, and a positive approach to failure. Recent curatorial projects include If we say things simply: Phoebe Huang and Stephanie Gagne at Or Gallery (2021) and Chiasmas: Rina Lyshaug featured in the 2021 Capture Photography Festival. Her writing has featured in ArtAsiaPacific and she was also a participant in Para Site Hong Kong’s 2020 Workshops for Emerging Arts Professionals.
