My work is about a moment—my moment in time. It’s an attempt to observe and respond to the world as it unfolds around me, to make sense of what it means to witness this strange, lovely experiment of being human. Art becomes a way of processing—of responding to the world as I see it, experience it, and grapple with it.
During the pandemic, when my son was a teenager navigating uncertainty and making choices that I couldn’t control, I turned to painting him and his friends. It became a way to work through my own emotions—fear, hope, love—and to hold space for their evolving identities in a chaotic time.
My current series continues in that vein: it responds to cultural and political events that deeply affect me, especially when the issues I care about are dismissed, distorted, or silenced. When public narratives become twisted or the truth feels out of reach, art becomes my act of witnessing.
I create figurative drawings in graphite or ink, working from photographs—some shared with me, others pulled from online media. The figures are rendered with careful detail, placed deliberately within the blank space of the page. I’m drawn to the intimacy and nuance that graphite offers; each mark is an act of attention, of care. The act of drawing becomes a way of observing and honoring the subject.
Once the figure is complete, I bring in abstract watercolor elements—fluid lines and shapes that move through the composition. These are not literal objects but intuitive responses to the figure and the moment they represent. I value the unknowing quality of the line in this stage, allowing space for reflection, ambiguity, or even tension, and a conversation to unfold between precision and unpredictability.
Ultimately, this process is how I process—how I hold space for what I see, what I feel, and what I can’t quite explain. I’m grateful that my version of witnessing is expressed through art.
Sandra Wong Orloff was born in the 1960s, shaped by the 70s, but really a product of the 80s. In the 90s, she found her voice through drawing, a medium that continues to guide her practice. Her art making reflects decades of creative evolution. Her recent work explores graphite and ink figures set within abstract watercolor landscapes, blending precision with spontaneity.
Wong Orloff holds a BFA in Painting from the San Francisco Art Institute and an MFA in Fine Arts from Mills College. Her work was featured in the inaugural Bay Area Now exhibition at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and she received an Artist-In-Residence Grant from the San Francisco Arts Council. She co-founded the artist collective Ben Dunne Presents, curating pop-up exhibitions and events in the East Bay. Currently a partner at Manna Gallery in Oakland, she works to support emerging and established artists. She continues to exhibit, collaborate, and create from her studio in Oakland, CA.