Augustina Wang Pledge, 2023

Augustina Wang (b. New York, NY, 1999) work is an investigation into myth-making and worldbuilding. Drawing from her experiences growing up with a first-generation immigrant single mother, she learned of her lineage through her mother with broken Chinese and fractured thoughts. Uniquely painful and feminine, these were stories passed down from grandmother to mother to daughter, and it was akin to uncovering a mythos or lore.

Wang is also inspired by her inner child, a girl who built her identity online through forums and websites, which let her to craft an alternate persona. This allowed for her to take agency and freedom of expression in a body that was otherwise marginalized. In particular, she is interested in various roleplaying communities as well as the concept of “roleplay” itself — especially in how it manifests in video games, anime, and other online subcultures. For Wang, she sees painting as a form or roleplay, where she can indulge in her wounds — whether self-inflicted, sexual, generational, or primordial. With these several influences in mind, Wang constructs abundant worlds filled with personal symbols, memories, and dreamscapes, where Asian women fully embody themselves, proudly untethered.

Augustina Wang currently lives and works in New York City. She received her BFA in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design (2022).