Folded paper on wood panel in acrylic case.  In the dance of nature, each sliver of sunlight represents a chance for new seedlings to emerge. Survival seems unlikely at times amongst mature plants with deep roots and towering leaves. But the will to survive is strong. Through their struggle and perseverance they carve out a space of their own where opportunity permits. Blossoms emerge and their courageous story is encoded for the next generation. This piece is composed of origami lotus flowers. I started folding lotus flowers in the summer of 2024 as a commission for the Canadian Breast Cancer Society’s Milestone Project. Five pieces were installed at The Brentway in Toronto as milestone markers in the fight against breast cancer at the finish line for the CIBC run for the cure. I hung 634 origami lotus flowers on 100 steel wires. A portrait of Cancer Survivor Salimeh can be resolved from a single location to tell her story of Personalized Treatment. The lotus plant grows in the swampy muck but a beautiful flower blooms. It is a symbol of purity, rebirth, and strength. The vibrant Chiyogami paper is hand silk-screened in Japan, and is PH neutralized by myself sheet by sheet. I use pH neutral glue and adhere to artist grade wood panels painted with a durable, acrylic paint. The acrylic case is custom-made to my specification, and installed myself. The piece comes ready to hang with either French cleat or D-rings. This piece is part of my migration series of origami assemblage.  My artist statement: Andrew unearths great journeys through origami assemblage, influenced by his experience as a second generation Canadian. I fold hundreds of origami birds to honour the hardships and sacrifices made by my parents’ generation. The process is a cathartic, meditative practice. Always striving for perfection, taking joy in the completion of each small task, the culmination of thousands of motions to creat something greater than the sum of its parts.

Andrew Wang

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Andrew left an engineering and business career in 2017 to care for his school age children and pursue his lifelong dream of becoming an artist. He is strongly influenced by the Renaissance period where artists were engineers and vice versa. As he was an engineer for a materials company for over a decade, Andrew takes great care in the choice of materials he uses, considering both technical and symbolic factors. While Andrew’s artistic practice is mainly in Origami, he enjoys the process of creation every single day with each medium before him.