We celebrated the launch of Planetaria by Monica Ong with a dynamic multimedia reading and conversation featuring Ong alongside poets Naoko Fujimoto and Kelcey Ervick. The afternoon showcased genre-defying work that blurred boundaries between text and image and bridged the arts and sciences. Together, the artists explored themes of motherhood, women in science, and diaspora identity. The program concluded with an engaging audience Q&A, a book signing, and refreshments.
Monica Ong is a visual poet and the author of Silent Anatomies. A 2024 United States Artists Fellow, Ong’s fine press poetry editions and literary art objects reside within over sixty institutional collections worldwide. Naoko Fujimoto is a translation editor at RHINO Poetry. Her newest translation collection with visual elements, of Women, is forthcoming from Tupelo Press in 2026. Kelcey Ervick is a writer and artist creating visual narratives in a variety of media. She is the author of four award-winning books, including the graphic memoir, The Keeper, and is co-editor of The Field Guide to Graphic Literature.
About Planetaria:
Planetaria, Monica Ong’s second collection of poetry is published by Proxima Vera, an artist imprint specializing in visual poetry. Based on her acclaimed exhibition, this full color volume brings Ong’s playful literary experiments on the page and in the gallery to poetry, science, and art lovers alike.
Rewriting the sky from a female perspective, Ong invites readers into the intimate cosmology of Planetaria, utilizing the visual language of astronomy to explore the precarious territories of motherhood, women in science, and diaspora identity. This poetry collection examines the power struggles that myth-making elicits through the alchemy of text and image hybrids.
WMG’s Literary Events Curator
Jae Green – WMG Literary Events Curator
Jae Green has been connected to Woman Made Gallery since its earliest years at the Ravenswood Manor location on Chicago’s northwest side. She is a visual artist, writer, and published poet who joined the WMG Board of Directors in 2020 and also serves on the Program Committee. In 2022, Jae co-juried Generations, Woman Made Gallery’s 30th Anniversary exhibition, in collaboration with Marisa Miles, WMG’s current Board President.