LAURA MING WONG
SERIES
Juicy
The Oakland Tribute
En La Luchita
How Beautiful Yesterday Was
Roosters and Men
Boxing
About
JUICY
(2017)A friend of mine told me that one of her greatest desires as a 72 year old was to be seen. She lamented that media depictions either relegate older women to the sidelines or overlook them completely, an effect of American society’s obsession with youth and youthfulness. Like many other women of color, she had pushed against the barriers of race and gender-based discrimination for much of her life. Now as an older woman, she felt overlooked due to her age.
Juicy is a multimedia series that celebrates these women in the visual margins. In 2017, I photographed and interviewed five Asian American women aged 60 and over, individually and in their homes. The interviews began with a simple question: How do you want to be seen? Each woman’s response considered the span and evolution of their lives, at times recalling the most significant milestones that occurred in their later years. One woman described a journey of self-acceptance found only in her 60s. Another woman curated an exhibit of her own nude portraits in her 70s. And another woman in her 80s described her power channeled by taiko drumming. Taking cues from their interviews, I then photographed each woman using props they brought into the studio, producing a collaborative portrait in which each subject had direct influence on their portrayal.
I was personally motivated to create this series. As a third-generation Chinese American woman, I came to understand my heritage through habits and traditions passed down by family elders. There were few opportunities to experience this part of my identity beyond my family’s Midwestern American home. When I lost my maternal grandparents, a crucial link was severed, though I did not realize this until decades later. Juicy felt like a return to a pan-Asian American culture, sparking an intergenerational connection I longed to have with the elders of my own family. This series also returns our elders to the public eye. As one of them shared, with laughter: “We’re still alive at this age. We're still juicy. We're not all dried up. I mean, we look dried up, but our minds are still active. We're still doing crazy things.”
“Despite all the coldness around you, and lack of stimulus, and lack of acceptance, there’s something inside that’s drawing you to self-realization and self-actualization. That would depict my past... Because there was lack of guidance all around me, or there was negative guidance. But somehow I knew that wasn’t the way to be. That there was something greater.” – Maylynn, 64
“I am now 77, loving all the photographs I’m taking of my body, and its nakedness. And enjoying all the different reactions to my new art.” – Susan, 77
"Not too many people think about this age group, and I think [this project] is wonderful because we’re still alive at this age. We're still juicy. We're not all dried up... I mean, we look dried up, but our minds are still active. We're still doing crazy things." – Ruth, 82
“I want everyone to know that as Asian American women, we can do anything. If you can get married, have children, and then come out at the age of 30 and survive, that’s huge. I want to be that advocate. I want to say you don’t have to be stuck. I’m 61 years old, and it took me a long time to get here. I want to celebrate.” – Sigi, 61
“Some of us never grow up, and that might be the case with me. At 100, I might still be evolving. God knows into what, but I promise not to embarass the kids.” – Terri, 60