TALES OF THE TOFU GODDESS: The Artful Life of FLO OY WONG

“Daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, auntie, artist, poet, educator, activist, Chinese American, Hoisan-wa speaker, even ‘an elegant old broad’” —Any of these terms might be used to describe Flo Oy Wong, but the sum of her parts adds up to something far greater. At 87, American artist Flo Oy Wong is still seeking and finding beauty in all aspects of her artful life. Ever curious, Wong continues to blaze her own path, conjuring change, both for her community and for herself. She speaks through walls, dripping canvases and mended fabrics, inviting all to see the light and the poetry in possibility.

DRAWN FROM LIFE: The Creative Legacy of FLO OY WONG

As the sixth daughter of Chinese immigrants living in Oakland’s Chinatown in the 1940s-1960s, FLO OY WONG was determined to break free of a life of pre-destined invisibility. She began her art career at the age of forty. Her poetry career started at seventy-five.

At eighty-five, Flo’s life comes full circle when The Community Rejuvenation Project proposes to paint a mural at 723 Webster, the former site of her family’s restaurant, the Great China. Flo’s beginnings in Oakland’s Chinatown come to life once more — this time through the eyes of another artist. Outside, muralist Desi Mundo renders Flo’s drawings of her immigrant family on the building which is now home to Imperial Soup. Inside, Flo and siblings Nellie and Bill swap stories about their formative years in Oakland Chinatown, dreaming of life beyond Ai Joong Wah, Great China.

LEGACY: THE 723 MURAL PROJECT

The 723 Mural, a project of the Community Rejuvenation Project and the Oakland Chinatown Oral History Project. The mural by artists DESI MUNDO and FLO OY WONG, was painted on the building at 723 Webster Street—once home to the Wong family’s restaurant, the Great China— featuring images from Flo Oy Wong’s Oakland Chinatown Series.