About — Laura Ming Wong

I stumbled into photography after graduating from the University of Michigan (2005), unable to get work outside of factories and office parks as the US market teetered into economic recession. Upon moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, I assisted on local film and reality-TV productions. After taking a few courses in documentary photography and studio lighting at the local community college, I began photographing weddings and for clients such as UC Berkeley and Christian Dior.

After photographing several protests that roiled through Oakland and the rest of the country following the Killing of Oscar Grant in 2009, and Occupy Wall Street in 2011, I began to work with The Oakland Post (2012-2016), the largest African-American weekly newspaper in Northern California. That brought me to many more corners of the Bay Area: across police lines at political protests, into the homes of well-heeled entrepreneurs, ringside at sold-out arenas of future boxing Hall of Famers, and more often, the spaces in-between.
These experiences are what draw me to photography over and again: to learn from, and uplift, the narratives of individuals and communities who forge their own spaces of power.

California, 2025

Exhibits
2024

Momentum, curated by Malcolm Wallace
Oakland Photo Workshop, Oakland, CA (Group)

Return, APAture Festival, curated by Tanza Solis and Ngân Vũ
Arc Gallery & Studios, San Francisco, CA (Group)

Seize The Gaze, curated by Susan Almazol with Eric Murphy
Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland, CA (Group)

2023

The Stories We Tell, curated by Jessica Chen
Oakland Photo Workshop Gallery, Oakland, CA (Group)

2017

Shifting Movements, curated by Michelle A. Lee
SoMArts Gallery, San Francisco, CA (Group)

2016

TOUGH
The Wall at 1920C, San Francisco, CA (Group)

Aesthetic Blitz, curated by Kelsay Myers
The Sequoias Rotunda, San Francisco, CA (Group)

2015

A Place of Her Own, curated by Cynthia Tom
SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA

En La Luchita: Scenes From a Cuban Boxing Gym, curated by Black Moon
William High Gallery at Laney College, Oakland, CA (Solo)

Knockout: Boxing Art, curated by Lena Verderano Reynoso
The Compound Gallery, Oakland, CA (Group)

2013

underCurrents and the Quest for Space, curated by Linda Inson Choy
SoMArts Gallery, San Francisco, CA (Group)

Awards and Grants

2024

CatchLight Scholarship, NDA Workshop
New Orleans, LA

2016

2nd Place in Pro Category: Sports - Other
International Photography Awards

2015

Artist Residency, A Place of Her Own
San Francisco, CA

Panels and Presentations
2024

Artist Panel, APAture Festival Visual Arts
Arc Gallery & Studios, San Francisco, CA

Artist Panel, Seize the Gaze
Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland, CA

2023

Artist Panel, The Stories We Tell
Oakland Photo Workshop Gallery, Oakland, CA

2017

Guest Speaker, First Exposures
San Francisco, CA

2016

Guest Speaker, Photojournalism
Laney College, Oakland, CA

2015

Artist Panel, A Place of Her Own
SoMArts Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Guest Speaker, Photojournalism
Laney College, Oakland, CA

2014

Panelist, A Day in the Life of Asian America
Chinese Historical Society, San Francisco, CA