Her Opera, Her Life

Joanna Wong Quee Heng, One of Singapore’s leading Cantonese opera artists and advocates.

Her Opera, Her Life – Joanna, is the second book written by Choo Mui Eng. This is a biography of the legendary Cantonese opera doyenne whose goal in life is to preserve the dying art of opera and perpetuate a love for Chinese culture. As Joanna’s student in Cantonese opera, Mui Eng sees the struggles and triumphs of Joanna, and is greatly inspired by the spirit of this octogenarian.

Driven by a sense of preservation of Singapore’s cultural heritage, Footprints on an Island- Rediscovering Pulau Ubin (2016) was her first foray into documenting the oral histories of a generation of the bygone era. It has since won two international book awards – Nautilus Book Awards (Silver) and Apex Awards for Publication Excellence (Winner).

With her love for landscape photography, she has won local photography awards. Her winning images have been displayed at Singapore National Day Annual Reception 2018 in Kuala Lumpur and at Beijing International Photography Week 2019.

In her free time, she can be seen rambling in the wild with like-minded enthusiasts and she has a stick-insect (Haaniella parva muiengae) named after her!