Smiling Woman

“Smilling Woman”

What funny.
Fog, mist. 

Damp wet blurry. 
Soggy. Mud. 

Vibrant, most vibrant exuberant
Colors in the gray heavy. 

Soft soft apple shades. 
Red tips. Green imprints.  

Water, drops. Streams. 
Fluffy veil allowing the worlds in between. 

“Wow.” But not nearly enough to say
We. Felt, you know. 

It made sense
In the ways we’ll never know 

The too big to know, you know. 
Yet we felt 

It, the channelling. Through us. 
Invited uninvited 

Carved, ripped, dug out this space, 
Hole, for souls and depressed 

Suffocated silenced voices to story 
Unleashed and rage.

Fury.
Soar? 

Almost nearly. 
To remember its hunger.

Desperate to survive through 
Sugar. Sushi fingers  

Heart pounding violently, 
To calm slow breaths 

That. What funny. 
Us, what funny. Popping 

Champagne feeding 
Wet earth, smiling 

Woman.
This wish. 
This price.  

 

//

 

"Stuff we should care about"

There's no "should"
Though, right? 

I can't see you 

But I feel what You are 
Made to do 

Because I, Too

  

Tong Wang

Tong Wang is a Canadian artist leading innovative initiatives across areas of performance, research, and community engagement. Her projects explore the role of art in relation to identity, culture, and current social-political issues. As a soloist and chamber musician, Tong has performed with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Red Deer Symphony Orchestra, and ensembles across North America and Europe. As a multidisciplinary artist, she has written the libretto of a new opera, “Labyrinth of Tears”, funded by the Canada Council, FRQSC, and SSHRC, participated in the Napoule Arts Foundation Residency in France, and published an award-winning photo-essay in the literary magazine Carte Blanche. Her other projects include the creative performances “Song of Praise”, “Ghiblilane”, “Once Upon a Pumpkin”, and research on the aesthetic of “cuteness” in popular and classical music. Tong recently toured a recital on multiculturalism, “我们Us” in Lunenburg, Montreal, Basel, and presented the interactive concerts “We’re Not Really Strangers” and “My Neighbours Totoro and Claude!” at the Verbier Festival. In 2022, Tong launched the Windwood Music Festival in Airdrie, Alberta to engage with and support rural farming communities through classical chamber music. In 2023, Tong will be touring with Duo Perdendosi across eastern US & Canada, as well as with Duo Incarnadine in Turkey and China to premiere a new commission by Alice Ho, Four Impressions of China. Using diverse mediums, Tong aims to share the power of art to reach across time, languages, borders, and cultures to connect people and kindle a shared understanding.

https://tong-wang.com
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