Artists in the Community: Artist Conversation with Tomie Arai and Cecilia Lim

Join Tomie Arai and Cecilia Lim as they discuss their artistic practice of connecting with the communities and people whose stories they tell—in New York City and beyond.

Moderated conversation with Q&A to follow.

About The Artists

Tomie Arai is a public artist who lives and works in NYC. In 2015, she co-founded the cultural collective, The Chinatown Art Brigade with artists Betty Yu and ManSee Kong. Since then, it has made significant impacts on the New York AAPI community, with support from organizations including the Asian Women’s Giving Circle and The Laundromat Project.

Arai is a seasoned artist who has designed both temporary and permanent public works of art. They have been exhibited by the Museum of Modern Art, Library of Congress, and San Francisco Arts Commission—just to name a few.

Cecilia Lim is a Queens-based cultural worker working at the intersection of art and social justice, with a background in printmaking and creative writing. She is currently screening Pagpapa(-)alam: To Wish You Well, So You Know, a short film commissioned by The Center for Cultural Power that tells part of the story of how care was practiced in Queens from 2020–2022.

In 2019, she launched the Remember Y(our) Connection project that uplifts the wisdom of frontline community members and illuminates pathways to work together for the well-being of our ecosystems through dialogue and story sharing, drawing, short documentary film, and street installations. Other community-engaged projects include Queens Elders Rise! (Jamaica 2019), Relative Privilege Chart with Lizania Cruz (Brooklyn 2019), Amazons of Queens with Hate Free Zone Queens (LIC/Jackson Heights/Corona 2019), I wish this was a… with Hate Free Zone Queens and Queens Neighborhoods United (Elmhurst 2018), and Hate-Free School of Magic & Wizardry with Center for Artistic Activism Art Action Academy 2017 cohort (Jackson Heights 2017). Her work has been featured in The FilAm Magazine, Balitang America, and Asia Pacific Forum.