Flo Oy Wong’s collection of works particularly drew my attention. Her history as a “paper person” clearly defines the basis of her art. She was a Chinese immigrant whose mother was refrained from coming to the U.S. by the Chinese Exclusion Act that prevented wives from immigrating into the U.S. Thus, Wong’s mother came into the U.S. under falsified papers that claimed she was her husband’s sister, and the artist had to act as though her father was her uncle. The influence of a fake identity can be reflected in Wong’s works.

The gallery exhibits three pieces of Wong’s works, which I found related and unified to one another. Almost a condoned but an interesting detail, every work has a table of nutrition facts somewhere on it. More specifically, the nutrition facts were of “white enriched rice,” which could be interpreted in multiple ways. At first, I perceived this as the artist’s representation of America’s history of as a “White Man’s World” and that these nutrition facts were some kind of recipe to follow to fit into this description. After all, there were limitation that excluded people of her origin from the U.S. and they had to find alternative way to refine themselves to fit into “the formula.”

However, after taking a closer look, I believe that the nutrition facts aren’t representative of a white man’s world, but of Wong’s own Chinese identity. This food was something that could not be taken away from her, and although immigrating under falsified papers, this was a part of her identity that she kept and carried. In all her works the word “rice” is in bold and enhanced, suggesting significance to her.