artist statement
Photograph: Anwar Ali
Rooted in ancestral heritage and somatic processes, my practice is an intimate dance of time. My work weaves inherited materials (physical and spiritual), communal encounters, and embodied gestures. Objects are collected and created, but the artwork is a living process rather than a fixed form— a record of unfolding, an artifact of release, a relic of intimacy. The forms are often soft and large, immersive and erotic, allowing the body to engage with them on sensory and emotional levels. By subverting a culture of speed and productivity, my practice embraces grief, slowness, eroticism and play as an act of reparative caretaking.
click here for an auditory experience of my artist manifesto
bio
Meirav Ong (she/they) is an Ashkenazi-American multi-disciplinary performance artist working through tactile materials and social practice to touch deeper into grief, intimacy, and embodied prayer. Ong holds an MFA in Fiber from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BFA from the University of Michigan. They have exhibited at The Contemporary Jewish Museum (San Francisco, CA), The Everson Museum (Syracuse, NY), and The Cranbrook Art Museum (Bloomfield Hills, MI) among others. Ong’s work has been supported by residencies and grants from the Vermont Studio Center, Penland School of Craft, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, and Chautauqua School of Art, among others. Ong is currently based in Philadelphia, PA
CVPRESS & PUBLICATIONS
2026 Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, Purdue University, Volume 43, Issue 3 (Print, Cover art)
Philly Mag, Mother’s Day Is an Unhappy Day for Millions – One West Philly Woman Wants to Help
2024 I Like Your Work, Summer Exhibition Catalog: “It’s Complicated” (Print)
KQED “At CJM, Jewish Artists Explore ‘Connection’ During a Time of Division”
Art & Object, “Artists Manifest Connection at The Contemporary Jewish Museum”
Ayin Press: Otiyot: “Why I Cannot Speak in Full Sentences.”
2023 Ayin Press: “Eitz Chalomot: Dream Practices & Guided Meditations for Tu b’Shevat.”
2022 AJS Perspectives: The Justice Issue Fall 2022, “The Artists.” (Print)
2021 Fountain Swimming Student Journal, Issue 1, ARCHIVE, “Inventory.” (Print)
2020 Ayin Journal: Ayin One: Tardema: “Three Poems”
2019 No Tokens The Journal: Issue No. 8 Spring/Summer 2019 (Print, Cover art)
No Tokens: “Picnic”