Posted by JWC Low on August 25, 19100 at 13:43:57:
Kearny Street Workshop and the San Francisco Public Library will present a public symposium in conjunction with the exhibition "made in usa:Angel Island Shhh" at the Koret Auditorium in the Main Library on Saturday, September 23, 2000, 1 to 4 PM. The Main Library is located at Larkin & Grove Sts.(near SF City Hall)San Francisco. The symposium will inform the public
about the history of Chinese immigration and the Angel Island experience. Panelists include Judy Yung, Associate Professor of American Studies at UC Santa Cruz; Philip Choy, founder and past president of the Chinese Historical Society of America, Jeffrey Ow, Ph D. candidate, History, UC Berkeley, with a
specialization in Angel Island, and Flo Oy Wong, artist. The panel will be moderated by William Wong, freelance journalist.
Kearny Street Workshop and California State Parks, in association with the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation and the Angel Island Association,
present "made in usa: Angel Island Shhh", an exhibit exploring the identity secrets of Chinese immigrants detained and interrogated in the United States
featuring the work of artist Flo Oy Wong.
The exhibit premieres on June 17 through September 23, 2000 at the Angel Island Immigration Station, Angel Island. Viewing hours are 11AM - 3 PM.
Viewers may take ferries from Vallejo, San Francisco, Tiburon, Oakland or
Alameda. Ferry telephone numbers: Tiburon (415) 435-2131; San Francisco,
Vallejo, Oakland, Alameda (415) 773-1188. After arriving at Angel Island, viewers may bike, hike, or
take a tram to the Angel Island Immigration Station. Purchase tickets at Cove Restaurant after getting off the ferry. Regular roundtrip
island tram service fee is $10.
The exhibition is an installation of 25 rice sacks embellished and sewn onto American flags which honor former "paper people," sponsors of "paper people" and those who entered the United States with "paper people", all of whom were
interrogated at either Angel Island, Ellis Island and other interrogation stations. The rice-sack flags will be hung on fabric-wrapped wall panels and
exhibited in the actual men's barracks of the Angel Island Immigration Station, which operated from 1910-1940. Flo's flags explore and sometimes
reveal the secrets that these "paper people" brought with them from 1908-1951.
Other exhibition accompaniments include: audiotaped interviews from the former detainees in English/Chinese; mounds of red, white and blue rice; a box of stories of detainees featured in the exhibition; a response book for
viewers to write their feedback, and wall text including a spreadsheet of
former detainees.
The 48-page exhibition catalogue for �made in usa: Angel Island Shhh� includes essays written by Moira Roth, Trefethen professor of Art History at Mills College in Oakland and William Wong, a journalist. Moira's essay
encompasses Flo Oy Wong's art career and her work since becoming a fine artist at the age of 40. William's essay discusses the history of the Angel
Island Immigration Station as a significant historical site to the Chinese American community. The catalogue also features images of Flo's artwork and
a spreadsheet of those honored in her exhibition and text about those featured. Catalog is available for purchase through the website: www.kearnystreet.org.
The exhibit is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, The San Francisco Arts Commission Cultural Equity Program, Grants for the Arts, The
Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, Zellerbach Family Fund, Allstate, Serpent Source and individual contributions. For more information: telephone
or fax Kearny Street Workshop at (415) 543-0520; email [email protected];website: www.kearnystreet.org.