Siyan Wong is a New York City based artist whose subjects are the working poor, the homeless, women and the elderly. One of her projects is called “Five Cents a Can: Making Visible the Invisible”, which raises questions about migration, inequality, aging among individuals who are poor and Asian (more specifically canners). She started painting the canners after encountering the same elderly Chinese lady going through garbage in the back of her apartment building every Saturday morning. When she befriended her, Siyan discovered that Choi Yi, the elderly Chinese lady, is 93 years old, has four children and many grand-children, and used to work in garment factories until they closed in Chinatown. She lives in the public housing near Siyan and takes pride and work. The resilience of the canners inspired Siyan to question whether one should be aging with such hard work for bare survival, when many people are living in comfortable luxury.
– Fiona Wong
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