I am a 60-something-year old woman who fell into art by accident a few years ago. "WonderMei" was born in 2014 after an art jam party with my high school friends, where I got so inspired that I started making collages and couldn’t stop.
Born in China, raised in Vietnam and Hong Kong, educated and now living in America, my life has always been a bundle of contradictions and the definition of East meets West. I've had zero art training, don't know what or how I'm doing, but love the possibilities. Not just all the things you can do with art, but all the things art can do for you. I'm now a collage in the making, and sixty going on six.
The more I’ve immersed myself in art, the more I’ve realized -- not only can art be by all and for all, it can do other things too -- eg build bridges, bring comfort, level the playing field. Art is the best equalizer -- the fool on the hill and the man on Wall Street can both create and enjoy, whatever and however they want. Increasingly I have seen how art can unite, fulfill, teach and delight everyone from under-privileged kids in Los Angeles, to adults with mental and physical disabilities in Hong Kong.
Since that first art jam party in 2014, these last few years have seen the birth of WonderMei's first instagram account, first sale, first art workshop, first art showcase, first mural, and most recently, first fashion show! Featuring the high school friends who have been there for me from the very beginning. It was impromptu, tagged on at the end of our 45th high school reunion in Hong Kong. When I look at these beautiful, exuberant models wearing WonderMei, I see the village that raised me, and believe in the impossible dream. May the road rise up to meet you too.
