Resources

A conversation about the shifts and challenges in representing the Asian Pacific Islander American experience in mainstream media. Participants include comedian Jenny Yang, comedian and performance artist Kristina Wong and author Jeff Chang.

Join Asian American and African American leaders, thinkers, and organizers in a conversation focused on the current Civil Rights crisis; placing #BlackLivesMatter within historic context, and articulating connections between the experience of Asian Americans and African Americans in the United States. Moderated by journalist William Gee Wong; panelists include Alex Tom, Executive Director, Chinese Progressive Association; Nadia Khastagir, Design Action Collective & Asian Americans for Black Lives; Jeff Adachi, San Francisco Public Defender’s Office; and, Karissa Lewis, #BlackLivesMatter.

ERINA ALEJO is an educator, organizer and artist. Through ethnographic and archival frameworks, Alejo examines the role of the city, family and body in intergenerational memory, healing and trauma. Click to watch their Artist Spotlight 

The Urami Waterfall in Niko, Picture of Famous Places in the Sixty-odd Provinces, August, 1853, by Ando Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797 – 1858), Woodblock print; Ink and colors on paper, Gift of Japanese Prints from the Collection of Emmeline Johnson. Donated by Oliver and Elizabeth Johnson, 1994.48. Photograph © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

Heman Chong imagines a future of dystopian stillness with Calendars (2020–2096), an installation of 1001 photos, each a calendar page capturing a moment of complete emptiness in today’s bustling areas of Singapore. View this work for yourself at the Asian Art Museum during the exhibition, Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past (on view from May 18–September 2, 2012).

Asian Art Museum Art Speak teaching artist, Adrienne Skye Roberts, discusses the inspiration behind her work with the Art Speak interns and her own art.

Artist Koki Tanaka discusses his works.

Asian Art Museum education staff, Kenneth Ikemoto, discusses his perspectives on home and identity at the museum’s Art Speak AsiaAlive program.

Justin Chin reads a poem he wrote in response to the artwork, Absence of God VII, 2008 by Raqib Shaw. This work is in the exhibition Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past (on view at the Asian Art Museum from May 18 – September 2, 2012). Co-presented by Litquake.

In his most recent work, Indonesian artist Jompet Kuswidananto explores political and cultural identity, particularly around the people and history of Java. Informed by theories drawn from the field of cultural studies, he connects local history to global movements with a focus on the fragility of changing identities.