Behind the Scenes at Dr. Em’s Art Show
- Betty Cheung
- May 5
- 2 min read
Updated: May 12
On 27 December 2024, Worlds Within Worlds opened as part of the Doctoral Exhibition held at Chikusenso Onsen Hotel in Zao, Japan.
Entering the exhibition as Wang Yen, Dr. Em’s Chinese name, reminds her of her childhood love of art. The name preceded her roles as a medical doctor, professor, and brain health expert, Dr. Em is inspired by both her personal and professional experiences and gives us some insight into hidden meanings in her art pieces.
Wang Yen at the Worlds Within Worlds exhibition at Chikusenso Onsen, Zao, Japan (Dec 2024)
As her art consultant during the preparation for the Chikusenso Doctoral exhibition, Dr. Em and I discussed how we wanted to focus her vast collection of paintings into a streamlined set of 20 pieces with mini stories and themes. Together, we also explored designs and materials for her custom shadow boxes made of solid golden ebony wood. The collection’s frames enhanced the integrity of her abstract and playful morphisms and transfigurations that I saw with added warmth and strength.
The exhibition was also a community project for Chikusenso Onsen Hotel, as the exhibition was a symbolic kick off for more local and cross-cultural exchanges with additional artists in the future.
—guest blogger, Betty Cheung
Budding Hyphae, Owl Eyes and Vital Clues are inspired by her medical background
Dr. Em, What inspires you?
This collection is really about different layers of life that we experience. There is the layer that has to do with the microscopic world which is the cells and the bacteria. Then there’s how we interact with the natural environment in that setting. There’s also at the macro level — how we live in nature and how we interact with trees and the world surrounding us all the time. I think that that kind of Environmental dialogue — how we relate them things in nature — is really a reflection of ourselves. And that’s really what this art collection is about.
So there are a couple of other pieces in this collection that actually come from the medical world. One of them is double-stranded DNA which we all know is the Foundation of Life — our chromosomes and our DNA — and intertwined with that is how RNA messages get made from DNA and then RNA is translated that into proteins. They’re done through a mechanism that involves structures called ribosomes which can appear within the cells along screen membranes. So one of the pieces called Endoplasmic Reticulum and almost any medical student who sees that picture will be like, “Oh that’s what that is!”
—Wang Yen (Dr. Em Wong)
Resources
For current and past works by Dr. Em Wong: Wang Yen online exhibitions
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