Every day since early July, 2018, Tiffany Wong has painted a small watercolor of one woman and then shared the painting on Instagram, providing background information about each woman. Wong started the project to give more people a chance to learn about the different roles of women in society and history. “We don’t really get to learn about them in our school as much,” Wong said. “I wanted to make women’s history more available for people so that they wouldn’t have to do the research.”
Wong's interest in women’s history started young. As a child in California, she read books about women, including scientist Barbara McClintock, doctor Elizabeth Blackwell and other fields.
The idea to develop her own women’s history project was inspired in part by a free course through Harvard X, Harvard University’s developer of online courses. Wong has worked there for the past five years after learning international education policy from the university. The Schlesinger Library provided another inspiration for Wong. In 2018, she visited the library’s 75th-anniversary exhibit, which told women’s stories through 75 documents and objects.
As an artist since childhood, Wong decided her project would include both paintings and research about women. “The written part of the post often takes longer than the painting,” Wong said. Whenever possible, she uses original sources and quotes, often referring to papers and other documents.
None of the paintings includes the women’s facial features, a style that makes the paintings easier to do, while giving people an opportunity to see themselves in the image. “I wanted something open,” Wong said. “I wanted people to feel like they could also be these people.”
Her subjects occasionally notice her posts. In February, Wong wrote about the career of Merritt Moore, a physicist and dancer with an undergraduate degree from Harvard. Moore shared the post with her own Instagram followers and left a comment for Wong.
“Wow! I’m so touched! Thank you! I love this!” Moore wrote.
1. What did Wong begin to do since early July, 2018?
A.Learn to draw with watercolors. | B.Share a painting of herself on Instagram. |
C.Paint famous women in history. | D.Collect information about each woman. |
2. What is mainly discussed in Para. 3?
A.When Wong began to tell women’s stories. |
B.How long Wong has studied international education. |
C.What Wong learned from Harvard X’s online courses. |
D.Where Wong got her inspiration for her project. |
3. What did Wong find difficult in her project?
A.Writing the background for the women. | B.Drawing the women’s facial features. |
C.Finding a quote of the famous women. | D.Selling her paintings on social websites. |
4. Why did Wong start her project?
A.To win equal payment for women at work. | B.To get more fans for her Instagram. |
C.To remember the women’s contribution to society. | D.To show her skills of mixing art and women history. |