New World Order: Humanity (2009)

New World Order was a series of five exhibitions held in the SFMOMA Artists Gallery at Fort Mason. In each presentation, the artists explore the rapidly changing world through artworks with social, political, and ecological contexts… Humanity, featured four artists who deal with the common human experience. Some of the artworks address this theme in a personal context, such as Flo Oy Wong’s depictions of family relationships, whereas others address it in more social framework, such as Robert Welsh’s pieces, which capture evidence of human habitation in an urban landscape.

— SFMOMA Artists Gallery Exhibitions at Fort Mason

“New World Order: Humanity” @ SFMOMA Artists Gallery (2009)

Opening reception:
Thursday, June 4, 2009
5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m

“New World Order: Humanity” Come, My Child (2008) by Flo Oy Wong

“Cocooning: The Third Eye Dolls”

Piwowarczyk: Could you tell me a little bit about the show you’re in right now? It’s called “New World Order: Humanity.”

Wong: Yes, I was invited by the San Francisco Museum Modern Art gallery to be part of this exhibition. And I make work and if people buy that’s wonderful. I don’t make work to sell.

And when I received the invitation from the curator, she said, “If you accept this invitation, you have to be willing to sell your work.” And that was a challenge, because I do installations. I am in a lot of collections, but that’s because people are just pleased by what I make. And so I said, “Oh, ok.” And I spoke to my gallerist in New York and she said, “Could you make something small? Your works are all so big.” And so I said, “ok, what could I do that’s small that people might want to buy and take away?” And so I had an epiphany one day, it came to me at one in the morning—dolls. And that’s really interesting because as I told you, I had an impoverished childhood and I never had a doll in my life. I may have had one—I seem to recall that somebody from the Salvation Army, which was one or two blocks away from our restaurant, might have brought me a doll one day, but I have a faint recall of that. But I don’t remember dolls as part of my life. And so there I was, at the age of 70, playing with dolls.”

— Flo Oy Wong interview, Asian American Art Oral History Project at Via Sapientiae, Digital Commons@DePaul

Interviewer: Angelika Piwowarczyk
Artist: Flo Oy Wong
Phone interview Chicago, IL/ Sunnyvale, CA
Date: June 3, 2009 6:30 – 7:45pm CST

“New World Order: Humanity”

“New World Order: Humanity”

“New World Order: Humanity”

Transformation

I started the doll series because I wanted to address the transformation I went through — from family trauma to an actualized being who began to understand my story as the unwanted daughter in my family. I had company because my sisters were not wanted either. All the dolls were female except for one, who we named Rudolph Nureyev.

Doll Workshops

In Madison, WI, when I was a resident artist there, I gave a doll-making workshop in an assisted living facility. Some of the seniors had never seen dolls created in this fashion, but those who did sign up really liked they had been introduced to this creative process.

At a later time, Nancy Hom, then Executive Director at Kearny Street Workshop, had applied for a workshop program on my behalf and I received support from the SF Art Commission. One of my workshops was a doll-making workshop. My grandson, Ben, came and made one. For many years, he displayed it in his bedroom.

Flo Oy Wong with Cocooning Doll (2012)