Arrangements
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about the artwork
Arrangements includes several mixed media artworks printed on vinyl and installed on the windows of the annex building adjacent to the Irving House.
"Arrangements is an assemblage of images depicting this re-orientation of my experience with the historic home: a portrait of the myself, inserted into the house in its formal dining room; a photo still of my hand, reaching out; a pair of traditional Chinese scissors balancing on point; a series of images made from a 3-D model of a weighty kettle floating in a pale yellow ground; and a meticulously inked drawing of an iron, drawn with natural inks created during the residency. The kettle and iron are grooved and worn on the handles, where servants’ hands would have handled and held these objects.
I came to Irving House as an artist-in-residence, invited to respond to the legacies held within
the Irving House, a historic house built by a prosperous settler family in the 19th century. As a
second-generation Chinese settler, I have previously experienced historic homes at a remove, not seeing myself or my heritage reflected in their contents. Here at Irving, I contemplated the role of the unidentified Chinese servants (Cook; Laundryman and Gardener) who supported the household through domestic duties. Over the course of my time looking through the Irving House and its collection, I found myself turning towards the objects that I imagined the Chinese workers faced and used in their daily labour." - Janet Wang
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Janet Wang is a visual artist and educator with a multidisciplinary studio practice, exploring the construction of identity through the appropriation and disruption of social patterns. A second-generation settler of Chinese heritage, she is based in Vancouver, Canada, the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. The artist received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of British Columbia and her Master of Arts in Studio Practice from the University of Leeds in England. She is an Associate Professor at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Residencies have included the Arts Council of England, ArtStarts, Artscape Gibraltar, Deer Lake AIR, Artist for Kids with the North Vancouver School District and the Wassaic Project. The artist has created public art for the City of Richmond, Public Art Vancouver and the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
project background
This work was produced as part of the Irving House Artist in Residence Pilot which ran from June to October, 2023. Two artists, Holly Schmidt and Janet Wang were invited to explore and experiment in response to the site and surroundings of the Irving House, one of British Columbia's oldest post-contact historic homes.
Photo credit: Rachel Topham Photography (2nd image)
Janet Wang
Neighbourhood:
DowntownInstallation year:
2024Status:
TemporaryType:
InstallationPrimary materials:
vinylAddress:
302 Royal Ave, New Westminster, BC V3L 1H7