Monica Ong is the author of Silent Anatomies (2015), winner of the Kore Press First Book Award in poetry. A Kundiman poetry fellow and graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Ong’s visual poetry innovates on text+image to surface hidden narratives of women and diaspora. You can find recent work featured in POETRY Magazine, Scientific American, Waxwing Magazine, Asian American Literary Review, and ctrl+v. She has been awarded residencies most recently at the Studios at MassMoCA, Marble House Project, Yaddo, Millay Arts, and the Ragdale Foundation.
Planetaria, her most recent exhibition of astronomy-inspired visual poetry was on exhibit at the Poetry Foundation in Chicago in 2022 and featured at the Hunterdon Art Museum in 2023. Ong is the founder of Proxima Vera, a micropress specializing in fine press visual poetry editions and literary art objects, many of which have been acquired by institutional collections and museums nationwide. In 2024, she was named a United States Artists Fellow.
selected exhibitions
2024 | Stelo Arts, De-Canon, curated by Jyothi Natarajan and Dao Strom in collaboration with Stelo Arts
2024 | ArtWRKD Gallery, Nocturne: Insomnia & Other Poems by Monica Ong, solo exhibition curated by Ashara Shapiro
2024 | University of Iowa Libraries, Making the Book, Past and Present, curated by Eric Ensley and Emily Martin
2023 | Minnesota Center for Book Arts, New Editions 2023, presented by Wet Paint and Cathy Ryan & Doris Engibous
2023 | Hunterdon Art Museum, Solo Exhibition: Monica Ong, curated by Hildy York
2022 | Poetry Foundation, Monica Ong: Planetaria, curated by Fred Sasaki & Katherine Litwin
2021 | Gallery Upstairs @ Institute Library of New Haven, Planetaria: Visual Poetry by Monica Ong, curated by M.W. Lewis
2020 | Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO, ConTEXT III, curated by Levi Sherman
2018 | Center for Book Arts, NYC, Monica Ong: Celestial Bodies, Feature Artist Exhibition curated by Alexander Campos
2018 | Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT, +The Art of Collaboration, curated by Melissa Barton, Elizabeth Frengel, & Nancy Kuhl
2017 | Visual & Performing Arts Center Gallery, Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, CT, Women's Work
2016 | University of Arizona Poetry Center & Tucson Chinese Cultural Center, Tucson, AZ, UnSilencing Anatomies, City-wide installation, exhibition, and readings on poetry & public health
2015 | Tyler Contemporary Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, Philalalia: Ink + Print
2015 | Silk Road Art Gallery, New Haven, Silent Anatomies
2014 | Rutgers Institute for Women and Art, New Brunswick, NJ, The Fearsome BMI: Women Artists and the Body
2012 | WomanMade Gallery, Chicago, IL, 20th Anniversary: 20 Jurors
2011 | The Parachute Factory, New Haven, CT, Critical Condition: When Silence Speaks, organized by Monica Ong
2011 | AC Institute, New York, NY, See You on the Flip Side!, curated by Nicole Bebout and Sonja Hoffstetter
2008 | Jedburgh Community and Arts Center, Scotland, Sound Café, Festival of sound and documentary/anthropology/enthnography, curated by Duncan Whitley
2007 | Casa do Conde, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Festival de Arte Digital, Espaço Funarte
2006 | Emergence Gallery @ Duo Theatre, New York, Translations: Misguided Machines & Cultural Loops, Curated by Christiane Paul, Curator of New Media at the Whitney Museum of American Art
publications
2024 | A Mouth Holds Many Things: A De-Canon Hybrid Literary Collection, an anthology published by Fonograf Editions. Insomnia Poems series.
2022 | Bat City Review, March 2022, Issue No. 18. “Seagull.” Winner of the Editor’s Prize in Hybrid Work.
2021 | Tab Journal: The Journal of Poetry & Poetics, Volume 9, Issue 6. “Her Gaze.”
2021 | Scientific American, November 2021, Issue No. 5, Vol. 325. “The Way of Karma.”
2021 | Beloit Poetry Journal, Fall/Winter 2021 issue. “The Daughter’s Almanac.” Semi-finalist for the 2021 Adrienne Rich Award.
2021 | Connecticut Literary Anthology 2021. “Indigo Insomnia.”
2021 | POETRY Magazine, July/August 2021 issue. “Diaspora Nova” and “Solstice Blessing.”
2021 | Dogwood: A Journal of Poetry and Prose, Cover art for the Spring 2021 issue.
2021 | Permafrost Magazine, Issue No. 42.2. “Purple Forbidden Enclosure.” 2020 New Alchemy Contest Winner.
2020 | A Velvet Giant, Issue No. 5. “Amber Insomnia” and “Lavender Insomnia.”
2020 | Breakwater Review, Issue No. 28. “Shooting Stars.” Finalist for the 2020 Peseroff Prize.
2020 | Petrichor: A Journal of Text+Image. “Blood Moon Woman” with lines from Li Bai’s “Quiet Night Thought” translated by astrophysicist Charles Liu, PhD.
2020 | Tricycle: A Buddhist Review. “Yellow Insomnia,” audio recorded with Randall Horton.
2020 | Redivider, “Jupiter’s Family of Comets,” 2020 Blurred Genres Contest 2nd place winner.
2020 | ctrl+v, Issue No. 6 featuring “Her Hypothesis” and “Sun, Not Son.”
2019 | Spectral Lines: Poems about Scientists, anthology by Alternating Currents Press. “Woman’s Place in the Universe.”
2018 | Poesia Visual 5, anthology published by Oi Futuro. “The Vessel.”
2018 | Waxwing Literary Journal. “Syzygy,” “Woman’s Place in the Universe,” and “Feather.”
2017 | Asian American Literary Review, Asian American Tarot: A Mental Health Project. Visual design collaboration on “The Adoptee,” “The Ancestor,” “The Survivor,” “The Lecher,” “The Patient,” and “The Deportee.”
2015 | Silent Anatomies, published by Kore Press. Selected by Joy Harjo as winner of the 2014 First Book Award in poetry.
2015 | Hyperallergic. “The Glass Larynx” and “The Vessel.”
2014 | Seneca Review. “Lingua Profundae,” “The Attic,” and “Medica Visits the Witch Doctor.”
2013 | Loaded Bicycle, Issue 2.1. “Catching a Wave.”
2013 | Glassworks Magazine, Issue 6. “Innervation.”
2012 | Tidal Basin Review. “Bo Suerte,” “Perfect Baby Formula,” “Silent Treatment,” “The Onset,” “Oral Whitening Rinse,” “Whitening Solution,” “Love Potion No. 8.”
2012 | Drunken Boat, Issue 15. “Metal Lungs.”
2012 | The New Sound Interdisciplinary Journal of Literature and Art, Issue 1. “Elegy.”
2011 | Lantern Review, “Corona Mestiza.”
Collections
Amherst College – Special Collections (MA)
Arizona State University – Special Collections (AZ)
Baylor University – Moody Memorial Library (TX)
Binghamton University (SUNY) – Special Collections (NY)
Bowdoin College – George J. Mitchell Dept. of Special Collections (ME)
Brown University – John Hay Library (RI)
Clark Art Institute Library – Sterling Library (MA)
Colorado College – Tutt Library (CO)
Cornell University – Olin Library (NY)
Emory University – Rose Library (GA)
Franklin & Marshall College – Archives & Special Collections (PA)
George Mason University (VA)
Haverford College – Special Collections (PA)
History of Science Museum – University of Oxford (England)
Indiana University – Special Collections (IN)
James Madison University – Special Collections (VA)
Letterform Archive – Special Collections (CA)
Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering, & Technology (MO)
McGill University Library – Special Collections (Canada)
Middlebury College – Special Collections (VT)
National Museum of Women in the Arts – Library & Research Center (Washington DC)
Ohio State University – Special Collections (OH)
Poetry Foundation Library (IL)
Princeton University – Firestone Library Special Collections (NJ)
Rhode Island School of Design – Fleet Library (RI)
Smith College – Special Collections (MA)
Stanford University – Bowes Art & Architecture Library (CA)
Stanford University – Special Collections (CA)
School of the Art Institute of Chciago – Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection (IL)
Temple University – Charles Library, Special Collections Research Center (PA)
Tufts University | School of the Museum of Fine Arts – Clark Library (MA)
University of Arizona Poetry Center (AZ)
University at Buffalo Libraries (SUNY) – The Poetry Collection (NY)
University of California at Berkeley – Bancroft Library (CA)
University of California at Santa Cruz – Special Collections (CA)
University of Chicago – Special Collections (IL)
University of Connecticut at Storrs – Special Collections (CT)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – Special Collections (IL)
University of Iowa – Special Collections (IA)
University of Nevada at Reno – Special Collections (NV)
University of South Carolina – Special Collections (SC)
University of Toronto – Special Collections (Canada)
University of Washington Libraries – Special Collections (WA)
University of Wisconsin-Madison – Kohler Art Library (WI)
University of Utah – Marriott Library (UT)
University of Virginia – Albert & Shirley Small Special Collections Library (VA)
Vanderbilt University – Jean and Alexander Hearts Libraries (TN)
Walker Art Center Library (MN)
Washington University at St. Louis – Modern Literature Collection (MO)
Wellesley College – Margaret Clapp Library (MA)
Wesleyan University – Special Collections & Archives (CT)
Yale University – Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library (CT)
Yale University – Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library (CT)
awards
2024 | United States Artists Fellowship
2023 | Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, Money for Women Grant, poetry award winner
2023 | Ragdale Foundation, Sylvia Clare Brown Fellowship
2022 | Marble House Project Gordon Eads & Jeanne Fee Feeney Residency Award established by Kimberly Eads & Kathryn Fee
2022 | Winner of the Bat City Review Editor’s Prize in Hybrid Work. “Seagull.”
2021 | Semi-finalist for the Adrienne Rich Award, Beloit Poetry Journal. “The Daughter’s Almanac.”
2021 | Sustainable Arts Foundation Grant, poetry
2021 | Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, Voices of Color Fellowship, 2nd Place
2021 | Connecticut Office of the Arts, CT Artist Fellowship Award
2021 | Winner of the 2020 New Alchemy Contest, Permafrost Magazine. “Purple Forbidden Enclosure.”
2020 | Pushcart Nomination from A Velvet Giant. “Lavender Insomnia.”
2020 | Finalist for the Perseroff Prize Poetry Award, Breakwater Review. “Shooting Stars.”
2020 | 2nd Place winner of the Blurred Genres Poetry Award, Redivider. “Jupiter’s Family of Comets.”
2019 | MassMoCA & Assets for Artists, Matched Savings Grant
2018 | Connecticut Office of the Arts, Regional Initiative Grant
2017 | Fine Art Works Center, Full-tuition Scholarship
2016 | Millay Arts Residency, Roscoe Lee Browne Poet-in-Residence Award
2014 | Kore Press First Book Award in Poetry, Silent Anatomies selected by Joy Harjo