A PLACE OF HER OWN is an arts healing residency and exhibition that invites women, to respond to the question, “If you had a place of your own, what would it be?”
AAWAA invites you to this heartfelt show of our newest batch of workshop participants where our artists share their work and their stories from diverse cultural backgrounds and generations, working in visual and literary art to showcase their very personal responses.
Now through September 11.
AAWAA, Asian Art Museum, Asia Society, and Center for Asian American media presents Program followed by an audience Q&A with the film's collaborators and director Madeleine Lim and a captivating panel discussion with a diverse panel of voices from Bing’s communities.
September 28. Samsung Hall at the Asian Art Museum as part of Asian Contemporary Art Week.
Applications are now open for A PLACE OF HER OWN Arts & Healing Residency's fall semester!
A culturally driven arts and healing program, designed to deeply transform. Healing through innovative art-making and visual meditation modalities for women in the social service professions. Led by Cynthia Tom and Trinity Ordona PhD and in partnership with Asian Women’s Shelter
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You are cordially invited to the HOLIDAY POTLUCK at the AAWAA Studio on Saturday, December 20, 4-8pm. Join us for an afternoon of celebration as we reflect upon a year of growth, and success and help us kick-off our 25th year as an organization!
To our valuable volunteers, artist/affiliate members, partners, funders, and community members: we would like to give appreciations to YOU for your contributions, whether big or small, that have catapulted AAWAA into a year of possibilities. Because of you, we have been able to represent more artists and provide more opportunities for programming and education to the public. We would like to thank you for supporting our mission and providing a strong foundation as the leading organization representing Asian Pacific American women in the arts for social change. Together, we have made a difference.
We ask is that you bring some food or drink to share and invite others to join. Donations are also welcome. We’ll provide the music, the space, and the friendly atmosphere. Please RSVP to Programs Manager, Melanie Elvena, at melanie@aawaa.net with what dish you will be bringing. Hope to see you there.
A closeup of painted doves from Keiko Nelson’s Peace Dove Project. 2014.
Being a native of Kyoto, Japan, Nelson finds that much of her inspiration comes from the gray area between two cultures – east and west. “In between, there is no comfort space. It’s kind of nice. At first it’s disorienting because it is a kind of lonely situation, but that stimulates creativity,” she says. Nelson recounts that even though she has a home in Kyoto, it does not feel the same as when she lived there before. “When I go back,” she explains, “I recognize that I am no longer Japanese because it’s a very different way of thinking, and if I’m eating Japanese food every day, I get very tired because I already experienced and explored another taste. Once you know that, you cannot go back.”
Oftentimes, Nelson finds herself not American either. She retains her Japanese accent, and her art is a constant reminder to others of her roots. For instance, one of her recent works called Reflections involves bamboo chopsticks arranged into spheres placed upon a pool of water reminiscent of her upbringing. Keiko’s mother was an artist who practiced many Japanese crafts like tea ceremony and flower arrangements. Yet, similar to how Nelson views herself, her artwork is not purely Japanese either. Keiko’s name is a common feminine Japanese name, but Nelson is a very Western name. She goes by “Nelson” because, in her eyes, her maiden name no longer represents herself.
Many of her art pieces adapt to local cultures. When the Metropolitan Museum of Mexico invited her for an installation, Nelson could not accommodate the bamboo that she initially planned to use for her artwork since bamboo is scarce in Mexico. As an alternative, she and the people of the museum opted for the more abundant sugar canes, a local material of the area. “It is an interesting and exciting experience to adapt to local cultures and local art materials,” she says.
While she often does installations all around the world, Nelson is also engaged with the local bay area community as well. She currently watches over the Arts Committee of the United Nations San Francisco Chapter, a volunteer-staffed arts group. The members usually have their own separate careers, so meetings are typically once a month. One of the projects they are currently working on is the Peace Dove Project.
The design is simple – a dove with a heart shape cut out of it, which was originally her design for a bronze fountain in a church plaza. The concept is about “filling your heart with love and peace,” and was later adapted into her United Nations work. “They asked me to do some kind of mural,” Nelson said, “so I chose to represent both the peace dove and the flags of all the countries for my design. Since the United Nations SF Chapter wanted to bring the mural panels to every event, they asked me to create a mural with five smaller panels that measured 20 feet by 8 feet together. The board member liked it, and they are using the design on their Facebook, website, and everything.”
Currently, Nelson is readapting the peace dove design to be a souvenir for the United Nations in the form of jewelry with the U.N. logo engraved on it. With development still underway, there is a lot of work that has to be done. “The design is not mass produced, says Nelson, “so after the order, it takes one month to make it. This is a nice way for people to start thinking about it and connect with peace.”
Keiko Nelson’s handmade design for the UN Peace Dove pendant.
The dove project expands beyond that; it is surprisingly quite interactive! Prior to its painting on the U.N. panels, the peace dove was used as a fun project for Fukushima high school students who came to the U.S. in the summer of 2014. Clay copies of peace doves were given to students to paint on. It was a wonderful way to communicate peace with the Fukushima kids.
Keiko with high school students from Fukushima painting doves for the Dove Peace Project. 2014.
Recently, Keiko Nelson received a Richmond Neighborhood Public Grant. “It is a wonderful opportunity to make an installation at a permanent location. I want it to be a permanent installation so that people can see it,” said Nelson, “and I am including Richmond sister city, Shimada, Japan.” The installation will include 500 doves displayed collectively in the shape of a heart. It is still being created, but it will soon have a permanent home in the Memorial Auditorium of Richmond.
The doves will be made with laser cut plastic and then handed out to the students and neighborhood community to paint their wishes for peace. The hearts are given to the participants, while the doves will be returned to create the collective art piece. This way, the project will have a greater impact. “We are sending 200 laser cuts of peace doves to Shimada. And all the Japanese people painting on it will have their names on there,” she added, “So if they visit Richmond, they can say, ‘Oh, my [dove] is there.’”
With plans to continue promoting peace, Keiko Nelson is far from finished. She plans on organizing more of these city-to-city interactions with her artwork. Hub will be taking on her Peace Dove Project in September 2015.
For more information about Keiko, you may visit her website at www.keikonelson.com, her Facebook Page, or her Youtube page.
Interview conducted by Communications Intern, Brian Pan.
Closeup of Maya Lin’s Art/Act exhibit. Credit: East Bay Express.
Start off the new year connecting with AAWAA’s members!
For the winter quarter, we’re taking a trip to the David Brower Center. Join us on Sunday, February 1 at 11:00am as we see famed architect and artist Maya Lin’s Art/Act exhibit in its final days followed by lunch at the center’s Gather Restaurant.
Please RSVP to Programs Manager, Melanie Elvena, at melanie@aawaa.net if you plan to attend.
RSVP on Facebook!
A PLACE OF HER OWN OPEN HOUSE
Please join us for an opening reception at the AAWAA Studio on Thursday, February 26 from 6-9pm for a special A PLACE OF HER OWN Open House. We will also host an intimate artists talk on Saturday, March 21 from 1-4pm and a community potluck to close out the exhibit on Saturday, March 28 from 12-4pm.
Join AAWAA for its annual spring arts exhibition, Hungry Ghosts.
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 2. 6-9pm. Manilatown Heritage Foundation Gallery.
Closing Reception, Literary Reading, & Community Potluck: Wednesday, April 29. 6-9pm. Manilatown Heritage Foundation Gallery.
Co-presented by Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center.
We’re proud to have another round of artist spotlights with our artist members! Reiko Fujii tells us about her glass kimonos and the next step to this project’s evolution.
Brian Pan: Tell me a bit about yourself.
Reiko Fujii: I was born in the summer of 1950, the eldest and only female of five children. My parents were second generation Japanese Americans who met after spending nearly 4 years in different American prison camps during WWII. The stresses from my family’s unjust imprisonment, lingering racism, pregnancy before marriage and other factors contributed to my mother’s severe mental breakdown on the day after I was born. She never fully recovered. My father was a stern autocrat who was frequently absent during my childhood. I spent the summers of my youth at my maternal grandparents’ farm in Riverside, California, where I was immersed in Japanese traditions and culture. I have fond memories of my hardworking grandparents.
These formative years have been the source and inspiration of my art during my adulthood. I have been on a quest to learn about my ancestral history and document it in a series of artworks and performances. My irrational guilt over my mother’s breakdown and my lack of confidence stemming from years of fraternal dominance have been slowly healed through my art as introspection. Love of nature, humor and joy have emerged as my healing process has progressed.
My art is really about the all-encompassing life experiences. I don’t work in one medium. I don’t just do painting. I don’t just do documentary videos. I don’t just do installations. I work in glass — I work in everything. My purpose is to be able to express whatever is inside in whatever medium I feel would more clearly say what I’m trying to express.
Reiko (left) and daughter Melissa (right) wearing their glass ancestral kimonos.
BP: How do you choose which medium to use?
RF: For the glass kimono – I was taking a glass class at the time. I went on a trip to Japan, and visited the town where my father grew up. Esumi is where his ancestors had been buried for 400 years, so I went to the cemetery, and then to the house that he and his parents built 70 years ago.
I got this idea – since I was learning how to work with glass – that I would express the honoring of my ancestors in glass. Since glass is luminous, and I see the ancestors as luminous, since they are not here physically, I chose this medium.
I decided to make something to wear because I had seen a photograph of Chinese armor from the Qin Dynasty. They made their armor out of stone, and the stone was connected by wire in overlapping squares. So I figured, if they could make something out of stone to wear, I could make something out of glass and connect it. I decided to use the shape of a 3”x 3” square, and put an image of my ancestors on each of those little glass frames.
My father came from a Buddhist background. The Buddhists keep a record of every single person who is buried in their cemeteries. The log is in Japanese and it’s a record of all my ancestors. When my father was alive, he told me about many of them. When I went to visit his ancestors’ house, where nobody lived anymore, we found some photo albums. All of the albums had old pictures in them that nobody had seen for years. My father explained to me who the people in the pictures were. He lived in Japan for several years and knew about his family history very well.
Reiko’s daughter, Melissa, wearing her ancestral glass kimono.
BP: Can you elaborate more about the kimonos?
RF: It seems that a lot of synchronistic events happened after I started making the kimonos. I felt like the ancestors were encouraging me to keep going with the history of our family. Many really wonderful and beautiful things have happened since I started making my four kimonos.
The first one I made and wore was on stage in San Jose. It was made of double-paned window glass, and I worked on it until the day I had to wear it. The first time I wore it – I didn’t realize how heavy it was. I almost tipped over, but I caught myself. I just concentrated on walking.
The kimono made the sound of wind chimes before I came out on stage for the performance. People were blown away because they could see that I was wearing a glass robe. After I had made the first kimono, I found out that with the Obon festival in Japan, the ancestors are called back with the sound of wind chimes. So that was a synchronistic thing to happen since I didn’t realize it while I was designing and making the kimono.
After that first performance, my friend and I were talking. He said, ‘You should wear that kimono in Japan.’ And I said, ‘You’re nuts, people will think I’m nuts if I do that.’ And then I thought about it, and said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to wear it where my ancestors lived and have been buried.’ That’s why I ended up going on the Journey of the Glass Kimono. Two of my good friends and my husband went with me and documented the trip.
Since I work in video, too, I made a 7-minute documentary. That was another part of the art and is what I mean by life experience. It’s not just about the kimono. If you look at the kimono on the armature, it’s just that. There’s nobody under there; just the kimono. It’s totally different when you see a picture of me or my daughter wearing our kimonos. Even when you’re looking at the picture, you can’t see that it makes a sound or how it moves when I walk. For most people, they look at the picture of the kimono and say that’s the art. But it’s not. It’s only a little piece of it.
That’s actually how I do a lot of my work. It’s not just the piece that I made. It’s the whole process of making the piece. Most of my work is healing for me, and transformative, and helps me connect with others. I couldn’t do this work if I didn’t have the support of my friends and my family. My art is not just the piece; it’s not the object, the art is the whole experience of wearing the kimono in Japan, the sound it makes, and connecting with my relatives and family members.
Closeup of Reiko’s kimono.
BP: What were some challenges you had while making these kimonos?
RF: It takes almost 2000 pieces of glass to make each kimono. Each little piece has to be cut, and then they have to be fused. They have to be meticulously positioned in the kiln. I had to arrange each glass piece so there would be a way to connect the wires without drilling a hole. One hole would take forever. I couldn’t drill thousands of holes. Instead, I designed each square so that when the five to eleven pieces of glass were fused together, there would be an opening for the wire ties. And tying these squares together – you can imagine making four kimonos, it’s crazy. So I had to have help making them.
The first kimono I made was too heavy so I made a second one out of single-paned window glass to wear in Japan. And then six years later, I figured out how to fuse the pictures into the glass and made two more.
Do you know what a water-slide decal is? You put the picture in water for about 30 seconds, and it slides off. You slide it off and put it onto the glass. I had to fuse the glass together, and then put the picture on, and then fuse it again. The first firing went to 1300 degrees and then the second time it went to only 1100 degrees. All of this was meticulous, back-breaking work, and it took time but was worth it.
When I made the first kimono, the challenge was: How do I wear it? People can’t believe I have a glass kimono that can be worn. The synchronistic event of discovering the picture of the Chinese stone armor and how they made it just turned up one day. It’s a matter of being conscious and noticing opportunities as they come up. I think opportunities are everywhere. It’s just about being keen on what you’re looking for in life. Pick and choose those opportunities and then act on them. That’s what I do.
Closeup of Melissa’s kimono.
BP: What particular opportunity affected you the most?
RF: When I first started learning how to work with glass and metal sculpture, we had a lot of art shows at Ohlone College. Every semester I would enter an art show and would often receive recognition. That encouraged me to keep going with it, even though I didn’t think I was doing that great of a job.
One of my passions in life is to be able to make art based on whatever I want to express, not having to make it for someone else or to sell. I’m very honored and thrilled that my art is accepted. It’s about my life, it’s about my family, it’s about my joys, my happiness, my depression whatever else. Even if it wasn’t accepted, I’d keep doing it anyway. It’s amazing to be able to create whatever I want and have the confidence to say this is art, this is my art, this is my life.
BP: What are your future plans with the kimonos?
RF: Right now, I’m working on a new one. I’m now experimenting with rice bags. The pictures on this new kimono are going to be of people who were in the WWII American prison camps. What I had read originally was that personal cameras were not allowed into the camps, but people somehow were able to take pictures. Either friends came and took photographs or, in later years, personal cameras were allowed.
People have been giving me snapshots of their families standing in front of the barracks or doing everyday things. I have quite a collection of those photographs, and I’ve been given permission to put them on my new kimono. The reason I was thinking of Japanese rice bags as the material to use is because, in the camps, they didn’t have any extra materials, so they reused everything including produce crates and the cloth that the rice came in. My grandmother even made underpants out of them. The rice bag is symbolic of their having very little.
I’ve been experimenting with how to transfer the photographs of these people in front of their barracks or wherever they were in at the camps, onto cutout squares of rice bags. Then, I’m going to attach the squares to each other with safety pins because safety pins were used back then too. The materials that the new kimono will be made out of will represent the necessity and practicality of using whatever was at hand in the camps.
To see more of Reiko Fujii’s art and hear the sound of her glass kimonos, visit www.reikofujii.com.
AAWAA TURNS 25
MURAL MUSES
by: Melanie Rose
San Francisco has long been the epicenter of Asian American life and culture. The oldest running Asian American arts nonprofit was founded here, we have the nation’s largest yearly Asian film festival , we are the birthplace of Asian American studies, and Asians make up about one third of the city’s population. And yet, there’s no Asian American public art space in San Francisco. Yes, you read that right. In addition, the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center functions as a virtual center that programs arts events at various venues throughout the city.
So what gives? When Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA) embarked upon celebrating its 25th anniversary, we pondered the same question. And now, we have an appropriate response…
This summer, AAWAA plans to unveil its first mural honoring Asian American women artists in San Francisco’s Richmond District. For AAWAA, it’s a way to commemorate its jubilee year, while claiming physical and visual public space. We ultimately want to raise the visibility of a community that has made so many historical contributions to this city.
We’ve teamed up with local and well-respected Asian American women muralists Cece Carpio of Trust Your Struggle and Erin Yoshi of Estria Foundation and Trust Your Struggle (who just finished curating and painting a series of murals at YBCA).
via instagram. Erin paints part of the mural series at YBCA.
via instagram. Cece installs for the Trust Your Struggle show Of Love and Riots.
With their expertise, AAWAA artists and community members will envision, craft, and paint a mural befitting of our organization’s legacy with hopes to inspire many generations of artists to come.
AAWAA is currently raising funds for the project, and you can check out the campaign here.
by: Elisa Gyotoku
The Bay Area is one of the top places in the world for street art. With its vibrant inhabitants and community driven values, street art has proven to be one of the main forms of expression of the Bay Area’s personality. From depictions of the struggles of everyday life to traditional folklore, street art’s ability capture the personal experiences of its artists whilst having a very public display is what makes it communal. Check out these local women artists who are running the Bay Area street art world!
image: makersquarter.com
Erin Yoshi’s art showcases the contradictions of life by amplifying both the beautiful and the ugly. Taking up photography at the tender age of 7, she has been influenced by her family and their deep cultural and political experiences, particularly during the Japanese internment camps of WWII. Yoshi’s work can be seen sprawling on walls all over San Francisco and Oakland including 11th Street and Folsom, Cypress Alley and 24th Street, and International Boulevard and 2nd Street. As a member of the Trust Your Struggle Collective and the Interim Director of the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles, she continues to advocate for the arts in hopes of inspiring and engaging future generations.
image: onlythblogknowsbrooklyn.com
Bay Area artist Cece Carpio has produced and exhibited work from the Philippines to Norway and back to the US. She paints stories of immigration, ancestry and the pliancy of life. Using folklore, fearless portraits and natural elements, Cece conveys her subjects striving for a more dignified existence. One of her most significant murals is on the FilipinoEducation Center at 4th and Harrison. Also a fellow member of the Trust Your Struggle Collective, she was awarded a residency with KulArts in San Francisco, the premier presenter of contemporary and tribal Pilipino arts in the US. Cece continues to paint internationally while always finding a way back to the walls of the Bay Area.
image: sfmuralarts.com
Bay Area native Elaine Chu’s work is crawling all over San Francisco’s walls. A graduate of Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, Chu has her name on murals ranging from 25th Street and Orange Alley, 24th Street and Potrero and Argonne Elementary in the Outer Richmond. As a co-founder of Twin Walls Mural Company, she continues to help beautify the city with color and support fellow artists with community outreach.
image: indiansummerfest.ca
Berkeley native Nisha Sembi’s artwork is focused on the juxtaposition of self-expression and social change. Nisha has combined Indian culture with hip-hop culture and created a new avenue of expression called “kalakari” or artistry, through which she has been curating new art, digital projects, and apparel design that challenge traditional boundaries and brings to the surface a “fresh and eclectic urban/cultural aesthetic.” She has created Kalakari Collective from this project, which offers various forms of design and expression. Nisha is currently working on several projects that will take her Bay Area finesse around the globe.
Erin Yoshi and Cece Carpion will be our lead muralists for our Mural Muses project coming to San Francisco this summer. But for now, check out the details on our campaign page.
by: Melanie Rose
image: SF Mural Arts. MaestraPeace mural on the Women’s Building in the Mission.
Over the years community public art has become a staple of the urban landscape. Today, many businesses and city governments have been inviting artists to paint their walls, hang their art, and create sculptures and installations reflecting the people and culture of the surrounding area. And we think it’s an awesome thing! So we’ve compiled a list of the benefits and why you should support more public art in your hood:
1. Beautifies Facades.
Public art adds beauty and visual interest to a neighborhood. Public art traditions such as murals have become widely respected art practices around the world. Imagine walking down your neighborhood seeing colorful masterpieces on the walls as you stroll down streets and alleyways, every corner providing you a vibrant backdrop for your afternoon stroll. Maybe some of your community organizers are depicted on the murals or some iconic figures in history. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it?
2. Raises Community Visibility.
Public art is usually commissioned for a specific community with a time, place, and a message in mind. The art then begins to mirror its environment bringing focus and increasing the visibility of its people and cultures. This is especially important for more vulnerable communities – it gives folks a chance to engage with art in everyday life and to see their stories reflected in their spaces. Visibility through public art acts as a neighborhood’s placemaking vehicle for connection, inspiration, and healing.
3. Improves Economic and Social Environment.
Yes, it’s true. Because community public art often echoes the experiences of the surrounding people and culture, murals often encourage a stronger sense of community and solidarity. Public art projects that particularly include community participation, whether it be input into the design or actually getting down and dirty in the painting, helps to root folks into the place where they live. And with that comes a more empowered sense of identity and pride for their place. Public art is also great for business! Neighborhoods with murals then become a destination point for visitors, revitalizing support for its local shops and restaurants.
Asian American Women Artists Association is trying to do something similar in San Francisco’s Richmond District this summer with its Mural Muses project, the first mural honoring Asian American women artists. Find more about the project here.
A PLACE OF HER OWN | November 19-December 11
Presented by SOMArts Cultural Center as part of Cynthia Tom's Curatorial Commons Residency. Women visual artists respond to the question, “If you had a place of your own, what would it be?” in an exhibition rooted in healing and transformation.
by: Elisa Gyotoku
1) Although we hold some of the largest and oldest Asian American programs and centers in the nation, SF still does not have an Asian American public arts space. With your help we are hoping to change that!
via ABC.com
2) Women supporting women artists! Join the community and reach some serious #squadgoals with revolutionary women artists.
via ABC.com
3) Do you like buttons? Or t-shirts? Or one-of-a-kind experiences? When you support our campaign, no matter the tier, you receive perks. And who doesn’t love PERKS!
via ABC.com
4) Your name could be on this wall! By supporting our campaign you already are a part of history but you could also literally have a piece on the wall by helping to paint the mural.
via ABC.com
5) Public art adds cultural value to the area, encouraging community building & visitors to the neighborhood. Be part of the AAWAA Legacy of successfully staging, producing and recognizing the art of Asian American Women for the past 25 years and for the next 25!
via ABC.com
Sharing is caring! Help us get the word out about this historic mural project. Post about this campaign and use #MuralMuses! Visit http://igg.me/at/MuralMuses for more info!
via ABC.com
By: Elisa Gyotoku
So many artists, so little time. A few members of the AAWAA staff are here to help expand your artist pool!
Cynthia Tom – Visual Artist, Community Activist, Arts Organizer and AAWAA Board President
image: courtesy of Manon Bogerd Wada
“MANON BOGERD WADA for her the family explorations in her work and technical expertise”.
image: courtesy of Nancy Hom Arts
“NANCY HOM for continuing to grow and shift the mediums she works with as well as the themes…always focused on community”.
image: artspan.org
”KAY KANG for her dedication to her Korean female heritage and combination of abstract techniques, Asian calligraphic imagery and color”.
image: courtesy of Shari DeBoer
“SHARI ARAI DEBOER for her dedication to intensely perfect printmaking techniques, beauty of execution and subject matter, attention to ethnic sensibilities and ever expanding use of new materials.
Melanie Elvena – Programs Manager
image: courtesy of the Bernice Bing Estate
“BERNICE BING…When I was younger, I was really drawn to works from Abstract Expressionism – the splatters of paint, the bold strokes of color, the grand canvasses – the paintings were very exciting for me. It wasn’t until AAWAA that I learned about one of its early members, Bernice Bing, through a film we helped produce in 2013. She was a bad ass artist in her day – queer, female, and Asian American. A talented Beat-era painter with her large-scale and colorful canvasses often depicting California landscapes, Bingo also did great work for the community. She helped young Asian American boys off the streets of Oakland Chinatown by teaching them art, helped form SCRAP (SF’s first creative reuse center), and was the first Executive Director of SOMArts Cultural Center. A shaker and maker ahead of her time, I’m really inspired by Bing”.
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image: cathyclu.com
“CATHY C. LU…I just bought some of her watercolor prints! Her work explores Asian American identity with a focus on culture and gender. Cathy’s watercolors tend to illustrate packs of Asian female characters playing, almost engulfing landscapes of sometimes detached body parts and other times decaying fruits. I find the pieces empowering, as if Asian American girls are literally tearing down gender and body standards! I also really like Cathy’s ceramic sculptures of rotting Asian fruit. From afar, they seem perfect but once you look closely you see the bright red decaying flesh beneath. For me, Cathy’s work is the perfect mix of creepy and delicate with a dash of whimsy”.
Diana Li, Marketing & Communications Intern
image: ahreelee.com
“AHREE LEE is one of the artists on my radar. She recently showed at the Asian Art Museum with a work called Your Piece where folks could submit a photo of themselves and the exhibited projection showed a collage of everyone’s faces based on a data algorithm. On the other side, was another projection of footage from CAAM’s Memories to Light archive formed into a kaleidoscope effect. A couple themes I’m really drawn to in her work is how “the self” and “the other” work in relationship with each other and is conceptualized both outside and inside community spaces.
via dailymotion.com
“I get really excited inside whenever I see VALERIE SOE around at community events in San Francisco. I first saw her piece, “All Orientals Look the Same” in my Asian American Cinema class during undergrad where we discussed how the piece showcases the ethnic diversity of Asian Americans opposing the generalizing white assumption that we all look the same. Since I work in video, this really inspired me to create a mental foundation and inventory of Asian American video artists”.
Looking to expand your horizons even more? Check out AAWAA’s programs and learn about upcoming events and projects, especially Mural Muses – the first mural honoring Asian American women artists.
by Melanie Rose
Since the 1930’s San Francisco has been no stranger to public art. It has become renowned for a strong mural tradition and currently, there are about 1,000 murals of all sizes scattered around the city (and counting). But it wasn’t until the 1960’s, when Latinos employed the Mexican mural tradition to create murals to kickoff the start of the Mission’s Chicano Mural Movement as part of the larger Civil Rights Movement. This marked the roots of the city’s community murals – walls dedicated to and reflecting the political struggles, hopes, values, and culture of the surrounding area – a visual kind of activism.
Today, in reaction to the rapidly changing landscape and demographics of the city, many of San Francisco’s public murals are no different. Here are five new powerful murals painted in 2015 that you must see:
image: Twin Walls Mural Company
1. La Flor de la Vida (Marina Perez-Wong & Elaine Chu of Twin Walls Mural Company)
This beautiful tribute is located at 25th Street along Frida’s Closet in the Mission. The mural is dedicated to the late Marsha Lee Pannone who taught at the School of the Arts and was known as an artist of many talents. Chu and Perez-Wong attended the school, and Pannone was both teacher and mentor. Other names appear on the banner in dedication to friends and community members who have passed away.
image: sfmuralarts.com
2. Los Hijos of the Revolution (Jessica Sabogal)
Located in the SoMa on Stevenson Street, this mural depicts the faces of Cuban children in a neighborhood primarily of working class people of color facing many social and economic issues like homelessness, gentrification, and substance abuse. Sabogal had the students in mind from nearby Bessie Carmichael where she taught art while painting the mural. The quote at the center attributes to a James Baldwin essay, calling for people to take an active role in shaping their community. SF born and bred, Sabogal was the first woman artist invited to make art for Facebook’s headquarters and is an artist in residence at Galeria de la Raza in the Mission.
image: streetartsf.com
3. In Solidarity with Our Neighbors in SoMa (David Statton)
Bahay is Tagalog for “home”, as SoMa currently has the largest concentration of Filipinos in San Francisco and many would argue is the core of Filipino American culture in the city. This newly unveiled mural located in Clarion Alley comes at a precarious time when the community feels that the idea of home is being threatened by controversial development projects and the amount of displacement already being experienced in this neighborhood and throughout the city’s history. The Mission communities have faced similar struggles of gentrification and displacement due to speculation.
image: precitaeyes.org
4. Presente: A Tribute to the Mission Community Mural (Alvarado, Max Martilla, Precita Eyes)
Part of the Walls of Respect series by Precita Eyes Muralists, who describes themselves as “an inner city, community-based mural arts organization,” they have been integral to the continuation of the San Francisco mural tradition since the 1970’s working with various communities to craft murals expressing their own narratives. This mural, located at 24th and Mission, commemorates El Tecolote (the city’s own 45-year old bilingual Latino newspaper) depicting past staff and volunteers. Also appearing on the wall are other local heroes: artists and teachers, iconic local businesses, and dedications to Alex Nieto and Amilcar Lopez-Perez who were both shot by police in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
image: sfmuralarts.com
5. Everything Must Go?
Another Clarion Alley mural in the Mission, the artist for this piece is currently unknown. Adobe Books was once a staple local business and beloved community hangout on 16th and Valencia until it shuttered its doors in 2013 due to skyrocketing rent. Luckily, the community rallied together to raise funds and it later opened at its new location as a co-op bookstore, gallery space, and community center on 24th Street. Although the store signs in the mural describe a tumultuous era when so much of San Francisco is being turned for profit. It begs to ask, must the local small businesses and community go too?
Want to get into what it takes to create a new mural in the city? Follow Asian American Women Artists Association’s anniversary mural project Mural Muses in collaboration with artists Erin Yoshi and Cece Carpio slated for Summer 2016.
by Michelle A. Lee and Melanie Rose
If you’ve seen our Eating Cultures exhibition from 2013, you’ll know that food culture and foodways is a topic prevalent in Asian American culture. AAWAA’s been hosting its own community potlucks and art-themed dinners at our command. So we decided to compile a list of places we like and love of familiar and not so familiar local Asian and Asian American establishments you should try.
In the Bay Area we’re spoiled with Burmese options, but growing up in the San Francisco Richmond district Burma Superstar was my first love and current favorite. Re: Ordering – Tea Leaf Salad, Samusa Soup. That’s all you really need to know. If soup and salad just isn’t going to cut it, I usually get the Nan Pia Dok (spicy coconut chicken noodles), Steak Kebat, and Coconut Rice too. -MAL
They’re open pretty late and have great, quick service. I usually get the delicious crispy pork belly and the duck larb. Both have just the right amount of spice. Their menu specials also offer some more out of the ordinary fare like alligator, frog, and boar. -MR
Belinda Leong has a way with butter! She and her crew make the loveliest butteriest pastries including decadent kouign amann, passionfruit almond bostocks, and fruit and chocolate stuffed croissants. The beautifully refined and modern space is a great place to go with friends for a little self-care. If you go, look for the whimsical macaron-tree artwork on the wall. #treatyoself -MAL
It’s a little hidden spot in the Mission that looks more like a green 50s ranch-style house than a restaurant, just down the street from the AAWAA Studio. The pho is pretty good. I also really like their imperial rolls (they put fungus and taro in them!) and vermicelli bowls. The servers are very friendly (imagine being fed by Vietnamese uncles and aunties). And for the price, I’m here all the time. -MR
MCF is my go-to Chinese restaurant near the AAWAA studio. I love their clever reinventions of Chinese-American classics, and it’s the only place where I can be reminded of the glories of New York Chinese takeout/Jewish delis and get my Sichuan Peppercorn málà fix at the same time. My favorite dishes are the Tiki Pork Belly, Egg Egg or Spicy Peanut Noodles, Long Beans, Cumin Lamb Ribs, and Schmaltz Rice. If you dine-in (recommended) take a moment to look up at the 60ft long crowdfunded New Year’s Dragon. -MAL
This unassuming spot in the Inner Richmond is everything I ever want in a Korean restaurant- open pretty late, house made banchan, and a sweet Korean auntie serving up each dish with efficiency. It’s what I imagine home cooked Korean food to be like. Not to mention, that soft tofu soup is always good on a cold and windy San Francisco eve. -MR
Two words…chicken wings. Salt and pepper chicken wings! Whenever we’re in Chinatown we have to fulfill this craving because these are the wings that dreams are made of. They’re savory and crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Every time I get an order I eat the bones clean. -MR
This cute, bright little spot is great for brunch. They serve up seasonal dishes with well-crafted, tasty ingredients and also offer four-course taster dinners. And the presentation for the dishes is just to die for! Totally unexpected for the foggy Outer Richmond. Note: Saturdays have Caturday Brunch specials for sangria and dessert if you wear something with cats on it. Meow. -MR
Super new to the food scene (they just opened some months ago). Known as a rustic Filipino restaurant in the SoMa with a kamayan (eating with your hands) option dinner for Friday and Saturday nights. They also offer the basics for lunch and dinner…garlic fried rice with lechon kawali, please! -MR
I enjoy tiny, dirty well-worn spaces and salty rude matter-of-fact service – and that’s why I love Yamo! The Yamo ladies churning out inexpensive Burmese & Chinese greasy spoon fare don’t have time to mess around, so be sure to decide what you want before you take one of the 10 counter seats. What will you want? Cold or House Noodles, maybe a tea leaf or mango salad to break up the carbs, and a carbonated beverage to wash it all down. -MAL
Like our suggestions? We are offering to cook two private dinners for 6 at your home if you back Mural Muses, the first mural honoring Asian American women artists, at The Connoisseur Level. Visit the campaign page to see more about the project and the perks.
