Ports of Entry explores what it means to be Chinese in Canada.


This body of work was researched and conceptualized from 2018 - 2021, culminating in an extended trip through British Columbia in 2021, to research the history of Chinese settler migration from the late 1800s. My trip wound along the Gold Rush Trail and alongside the railway routes carved into the mountainsides by Chinese labourers. I recorded the juxtapositions of the celebrated histories and landmarks with the indelible marks left on the landscape by the labour of Chinese settlers. Movement and migration write on to the landscape who has privilege, who must pay, who is held apart and separate.

This multi-media exhibition encompasses traditional drawings and paintings, juxtaposed with animated and interactive artwork. 


Ports of Entry

Single channel video, 4:55
Original artwork by Janet Wang 
Animations by Nastenka Alava & Yejin Kim 
Sound design & original composition by Micah Meuleman 
2021 

Created with the generous support of the BC Arts Council



Ghosts of Gum San


Digital drawings printed on Tyvek
.7 m x 10m

Installation at the Sunshine Coast Arts Council Gallery

2022



Welcome to Gold Mountain

Interactive game

2023



Click here to play online



Joss House

Marigold dye, Chinese and foraged black walnut ink
on cold-pressed watercolour paper
20x 30 inches

2021

In the collection of the Art Bank of Canada



Altar (Barkerville)

Marigold dye, Chinese and foraged black walnut ink
on cold-pressed watercolour paper
20x 30 inches

2021

In the collection of the Art Bank of Canada






















































© 2024 by Janet Wang Studio.  Artwork, images and text may not be shared or reproduced without the artist’s permission
.