A Viewing Room

Yan Wen Chang (b. 1993) explores the American Dream as two-fold – an intense desire that can be defined as hopeful and defiant while its severe reality as hopeless and desperate. Chang chooses her subject matter such as the five-pointed star, bouquet of roses, car, portrait of self and Hollywood sign to abstract iconic symbols of the American Dream while expressing her images as a materialist impulse and a sensitivity to the pure haecceity of each subject. This stems from her translocation to Toronto, alone, at the age of 17, with a resolute determination to fulfil her dream of becoming an artist and to achieve a level of success that could not be realized in the patriarchal and corrupt conditions of her homeland. Chang holds an MFA from the University of Guelph, and a BFA from OCAD University. She has exhibited at Xpace Cultural Centre, Toronto; the plumb, Toronto; and A.D. NYC, New York. Her public billboard entitled “same problem my father had and what he dreamed” was on display at Hamilton Artists' Inc. from 2022 to 2023.