Restless by Nature: Mary Sui Yee Wong, 1990s to the present

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Mary Sui Yee Wong, “Nature Morte II,” 2001

discarded toys, powder turf (courtesy of the artist)

Richmond Art Gallery presents Restless by Nature, the first retrospective of multidisciplinary artist Mary Sui Yee Wong’s work. Wong’s artistic practice over three decades spans sculpture, installation, photography, video, and costume, and works in this exhibition have been specially updated for this new context–reflecting the site-specificity that Wong is known for. A newly commissioned performance-based work, Gold Mountain, draws from the rising levels of anti-Asian violence seen in recent years, and will use an act of destruction to explore systemic racism as driven by the neoliberal economy. Born in Hong Kong to Cantonese opera master Toa Wong and raised in Vancouver, the artist frequently addresses themes of personal memory, familial legacy, and cultural history in her work. Based in Montréal, Wong is a professor in Concordia University’s Fine Arts department, an advocate for the Chinese Canadian community, and a celebrated mentor of younger generations of Asian diaspora artists. A collaboration between the Gallery, City of Richmond Public Art, and Capture Photography Festival, her work TREASURE II, which honours her Chinese cultural and artistic heritage, will be featured at Lansdowne Station.

This exhibition is part of the 2025 Capture Photography Festival Selected Exhibition Program.