In the early 19th Century, Chinese immigrants entering Canada and the U.S. were regularly detained in immigration buildings, where hundreds of poems recording their experience in detention have been found carved on walls, and have since been documented, translated, and published. 

In Marley Kong’s 2026 works, I Have Always Yearned to Reach Gold Mountain and When a Newcomer Arrives in America, two such poems are executed in calligraphy on top of digitally-altered historic photographs. The former depicts the exterior of the Immigration Building that once stood in Victoria, B.C., and the latter a dinning hall in the Immigration Station on Angel Island (next to the infamous Alcatraz Island) in San Francisco Bay, California. 

Kong’s rendering of the poems in calligraphy evokes a sense of historical authenticity; however, this is juxtaposed by the eerie fluorescent colours and the superimposition of the text on the photographs, which transcends the image back to the present day. The calligraphy is further juxtaposed by the laser-engraved text on the acrylic of the frame, which visualizes a barrier and disconnect between translation and original text. The works not only highlight the past anger, frustration, hopes, and despair of the detainees, but also reflect on the immense progress made on racial equality since these poems were composed. 

On view: May 29 - June 26, 2026, Community Exhibition, Places des Arts, Coquitlam, BC, Canada