Art as an archive and community space with Anson Ng
THE GREEN LINE'S
CHANGEMAKER INTERVIEW
Art as an archive and community space with Anson Ng
For one of our Changemakers newsletters, we spoke with local artist Anson Ng about how he’s using vibrant paintings to preserve the disappearing landmarks of Toronto’s Chinatown.
A PHOTO OF LOCAL ARTIST, ANSON NG.
📸: SHANIK TANNA.
Adele Lukusa
A graduate of TMU, Kitchener native enamoured with Toronto and lover of Jamila Woods. Currently working on supporting mutual aid efforts and unpacking the nuances of Black haircare.
April 3, 2024
Art wasn’t Anson Ng’s first choice.
As the son of restauranteurs who spent 60 hours a week working at Thai Princess Restaurant near King and Spadina, Anson felt compelled to follow in his parents’ footsteps.
After a decade, he abandoned that industry for art school. As a lover of anything colourful, I’m so glad Anson found his way to art, as his work focuses on vibrant depictions of Toronto’s Chinatown landmarks in shades of warm purples and yellows.
After returning to the city from art school in Oakville during the pandemic, so many of the Chinatown touchstones he remembered were lost. So now, his art serves as a method of archiving the spots that marked his childhood. For Anson, art is a tool to “direct people’s attention” to these mainstays in Toronto’s Chinatown. His longterm goal is to paint Chinatowns across Canada, especially along the railway built by Chinese immigrants.
What inspired you to start painting Chinatown?
My parents’ restaurant was on King and Spadina, so we lived a lot of our lives along Spadina, shopping for the restaurant, going to work and spending celebrations in Chinatown. My parents were working like 60 hours a week, right? They're not going to want to cook on their one day off, so we had certain restaurants we’d go eat at and places where we would celebrate together. So, a lot of my core memories were built in the downtown Chinatown area.
I graduated in 2020 into the pandemic, and when I came back to Toronto, the Chinatown that I remembered from my childhood felt different even though I wasn’t away for that long. I think that made me realize how quickly things can change, and how art can be used as both a form of expression and a form of archiving. Urban history is very short.
ANSON NG’S PAINTING OF HIS PARENTS’ RESTAURANT “THAI PRINCESS.”
Aside from painting, you host art workshops, where you teach folks how to paint buildings or create flowers out of paper. Why did you start these workshops?
I spent a lot of time creating and curating spaces for people to make art — sometimes to paint outside, inside or just to make flowers. Coming out of art school and having the privilege to be an artist, I see the value in not only making art, but the value in finding a space where people can make art together.
I understand that not everyone has the capacity to pick up a paintbrush or make a flower, but I think in this digital age and attention economy, it's so valuable to be present, share and create together. Making flowers is just one version of my art facilitation. It gives people something a little bit different than making art alone or not doing art at all.
What is it that you struggle the most with being an artist in the city?
The hardest part about being an artist, especially in Toronto, is sustainability. Ideally, I can jump out the gate and start selling $1,000 paintings every week for 10 years. But in a city that doesn't really value art, yet has so much capital, a lot of my work is about increasing the visibility of neighbourhoods like Chinatown and creating spaces where people can make and appreciate art. The easiest way to support art is to simply support the artists. Because at the end of the day, if there's soil but no flowers, what's the point of having a garden? People really have to come together and build something together.
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