Marlene Yuen
Mary Ko Bong, 2017, screen printed accordion book, BFK Rives paper, 7.25" x 5.0" (Opens to 52" in length)
Women were seldom mentioned in early Chinese Canadian history, partly due to immigration patterns. Strong-willed and independent, Mary Ko Bong enlisted in the Canadian army during WWII, before both her brothers. During the war, she worked as an optics mechanic fixing binoculars and compasses, and because she was also trained in singing and dancing jazz, she entertained the troops. After her military service, she trained in horology and became the first woman to graduate from such a program in Canada. Bong passed away in 2011.
Marlene Yuen is an artist living and working in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada). Her approach to color favors loud reds and traditional black hues, and her approach to printmaking involves collaboration, history and research. Marlene’s bright, graphic and political prints and books are created with letterpress, screen printing and relief printing. She works with risograph printing in her book works and drawings, and in her illustration work she enjoys using traditional pen and ink.
Currently, Marlene is in a group exhibit, Whose Chinatown at Griffin Art Projects, North Vancouver, BC. She also just contributed a short chapter towards a collaborative graphic novel book about anti-racism. This book project was coordinated by Vancouver-based artist, Dan Starling.
What cultural aspects of color are built into your work?
Red is a very important colour in my culture. It is a colour of prosperity and celebration. I like using red when conveying strong positive feelings. I met Beth Grabowski years ago at a residency at Frans Masereel Centrum and she suggested to me “make it big or make it red”. That really stuck in my head.
Sai Wah Tong, 2017, screen printed zine with letterpress printed pull-out poster, 9.5" x 6.25”, poster insert 11” x 17”.
In the early days of Chinese hand laundries in Vancouver’s Chinatown, laundry workers who endured long hours in deplorable conditions, formed a short-lived union, Sai Wah Tong, to protect their rights. The laundry union disappeared quickly and quietly.
Mary Ko Bong (detail), 2017, screen printed accordion book, BFK Rives paper.
Sai Wah Tong (cover detail), 2017, screen printed zine with letterpress printed pull-out poster, 9.5" x 6.25”.
New Years Slippers, 2019, risograph test prints for MAU Calendar Project, 5.5” X 17.0”.
Makers Artists United (MAU) Calendar is an artist produced and community driven publication showcasing the work of local artists Clare Yow, Erica Wilk, Hillary Webb, Janet Wang and Marlene Yuen. It also features community contributed food recipes, neighbourhood major event listings and highlights local histories and individuals whose contributions have helped shape Chinatown’s rich history.
Ho Sun Hing Printers, 2020, letterpress and risograph printed book, perfect bound, 8.0” x 5.0”.
This bookwork retells the story of the Lam family’s business, Ho Sun Hing Printer, a Vancouver Chinatown shop that closed in 2014 after 106 years. The business began as a rubber stamp company in 1908 by Lam Lat Tong who grew the business to become. Canada’s first Chinese-English print shop.
If you could eat a color for dinner, what color would you choose and how would it taste?
I would love to try either metallic gold or silver because they always look so yummy on black rag paper. I think it might taste like sharp ginger beer.
What can printmaking ink achieve regarding color in your work that no other material can?
I love the smell of relief ink and I love the areas of imperfections even when something prints well, there are always areas that are not fully filled in. It gives the print an organic feel. For example, wood type.
Cheng Foo, 2017, screen printed accordion book, BFK Rives paper, 7.25” x 5.0" (opens to 74" in length).
This accordion book is based on a found taped interview about Cheng Foo, who arrived in Canada in 1881 to work on the western section of the railroad. He later settled in the interior town of Yale, BC and opened a small grocery store that also provided basic lodgings to Chinese passing through town. Cheng Foo always wanted to return to China but was not able to afford the journey home. This book was screen printed with gold metallic ink to reference Gold Mountain. Many Chinese migrant workers were hoping to find gold fortunes associated with the gold rush, but many endured harsh working conditions and often death.
A Haunting History of Vancouver, 2011, accordion book, screen printed with glow in the dark ink, 7.0" X 6.5” X 0.80”.
A collection of haunted places in Vancouver, British Columbia. Printed at a residency at Frans Masereel Centrum, Kasterlee, Belgium.
