Gathering - Panel Discussion on Artists' Experience of Anti-Asian Hate

The last program of the “Gathering” exhibition is a panel discussion led by Asianish co-founder, Gabriel de Guzman, with artists Joyce Yu-Jean Lee, Evgenia Kim, Julia Kwon, Tomo Mori, and Natalia Nakazawa. Each artist approaches anti-Asian hate in their work in a unique way. Their expression and processing of their experience is the topic of the panel.

“Gathering” highlights the relationships between forty-five Asianish artist members and their works at Tiger Strikes Asteroid–New York (TSA-NY) in Bushwick (Sat, June 24-Sun, July 30, 2023) and FiveMyles in Crown Heights (Sat, July 8-Sun, August 13, 2023), curated by Cecile Chong and Sophia Ma.

In March 2018, Sara Jimenez, Maia Cruz Palileo, Gabriel de Guzman, and Cecile Chong formed Asianish. The idea of the group came out of their experience after participating in the NYC Creative Salon around the theme “identity.” The group is interested in informally sharing and discussing the nuanced and complex Asian identities and experiences in the US art world. The group holds space for these hybridized “Asian-ish” identities that are unique and specific to each member. The community continues to grow and recognize each other as a resource for growth, strength, and wisdom. As of May 2023, the group has 163 members.

The exhibition is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC) and the Asian Women Giving Circle, a donor-advised fund of the Ms. Foundation for Women. Tiger Strikes Asteroid’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. The co-curators thank the staff of FiveMyles and the artist members of Tiger Strikes Asteroid for their efforts.

Please contact asianishexhibition2023@gmail.com for press inquiries.
Follow us on Instagram @asianish2018.

Biographies

Gabriel de Guzman is Director of Arts & Chief Curator at Wave Hill, where he oversees the visual and performing arts program for the public garden and cultural center in the Bronx. From 2017 to 2021, he was Curator & Director of Exhibitions at Smack Mellon, presenting shows that featured emerging and under-recognized mid-career artists whose work explores critical, socially relevant issues. Before joining Smack Mellon, de Guzman held a previous position at Wave Hill, as Curator of Visual Arts, organizing solo projects for emerging artists and thematic exhibitions that explored human connections to the natural world. Prior to Wave Hill, he was a curatorial assistant at The Jewish Museum. He has also organized exhibitions for Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs, The Bronx Museum, Dyckman Farmhouse Museum, En Foco, Rush Arts, BronxArtSpace, Affordable Art Fair New York, Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, and other venues. His essays have been published in Nueva Luz: Photographic Journal and in catalogues for the Museum of Arts and Design, Arsenal Gallery at Central Park, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, and the art institutions mentioned above. He earned an M.A. in art history from Hunter College and a B.A. in art history from the University of Virginia.

Joyce Yu-Jean Lee is a visual artist that combines photography, sculpture and interactive installation with social practice and institutional critique. Her project about Internet censorship, FIREWALL, garnered backlash from Chinese state authorities in 2016 and has exhibited at Lincoln Center in New York City, the Oslo Freedom Forum in Taiwan, the Hong Kong Center for Community Cultural Development, and the Austrian Association of Women Artists (VBKÖ) in Vienna. Joyce’s artwork has been written about in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Hong Kong Free Press, China Digital Times, Huffington Post, Hyperallergic, and been featured by James Coomarasamy on BBC Radio. She is the recipient of grants from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council; Arts Mid-Hudson, Asian Women Giving Circle; Franklin Furnace Fund, Maryland State Arts Council and The Walters Art Museum; fellowships at the Vermont Studio Center supported by the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the C. Sylvia and Eddie C. Brown Studio at Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower and Hamiltonian Artists. She is an Assistant Professor of Foundation at Pratt Institute.

Evgenia Kim (b. 1988 Republic of Uzbekistan, USSR) is a New York-based artist working in printmaking, book arts, and installation. She received her MFA degree in painting from Moscow State Regional University (2012) and MFA in printmaking and book arts from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia (2019) respectively. Kim addresses ideas of identity and diaspora in a globalized present, and the effects of the forced migration on the individual. She explores the ways in which printmaking can be a critical tool in building and educating not only the local community but also related followers across the globe. She exhibited both nationally and internationally. Her work is collected by The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Princeton University, NJ; Stanford University, CA; The Maryland Institute of Art, MD; Zuckerman Museum of Art at Kennesaw State University, GA among others.

Julia Kwon sews interpretative bojagi—Korean object-wrapping cloths historically created since the early Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910)—to comment on Asiatic femininity. She embeds patterns from contemporary sociopolitical events to challenge the notion of authenticity and examine the complexities of constructing identities within the context of globalism, cultural hybridity, intersectionality, and the collective struggle for social justice. Her work argues for capacious possibilities for one’s identity and sense of community. Julia Kwon holds an MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, and a BA in Studio Art from Georgetown University. Her work is in the permanent collection of Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery (Washington, DC), Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (New York, NY), Museum of International Folk Art (Santa Fe, NM), The New York Public Library (New York, NY), among others. She has also exhibited at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington, American University Museum, Peale Center at Carroll Museums, Hartnett Gallery of the University of Rochester, and Torpedo Factory Art Center. Her work has been featured and reviewed internationally, including in the Smithsonian Magazine, The Washington Post, Korea.net, BmoreArt, PBS’s WETA Arts, and SBS News. She was awarded artist residencies at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Chautauqua School of Art, NARS Foundation, Textile Arts Center, Vermont Studio Center, among others.

Tomo Mori was born in Osaka, Japan. She came to the US as a teenage exchange student and continued to study at Atlanta College of Art. After graduation, she worked for an international news organization for over a decade, prompting her to view society in a more universal sense, which is significantly reflected in her artistic vision today. Tomo focuses on fiber art installations with hand-woven ropes from used clothes and linens donated by family and friends, giving new life to no longer desired items and including the community in her art. She approaches her work as a form of painting. Fabric scraps are colors on her palette: vintage kimonos, summer camp T-shirts, and well-loved tablecloths. Introducing different cultural references in patterns and colors from all over the world, she mixes them into a linear rope form as a gesture toward interconnection. As if life imitates art, she discovered that her grandmother’s family was a rope manufacturer in Osaka when her mother remarked that it was interesting that she was making ropes “like she was supposed to.” She recently completed a Winter Workspace Residency at Wave Hill. She also participated in a program at IFPA/EFA Robert Blackburn in 2022, Governors Island in 2019, and Chashama in 2016. Tomo’s work has been exhibited at Columbia University, Scope Miami, Flux Art Fair Harlem, Governors Island, Newark Museum, and Christie’s. She received a commission from MTA and completed a laminated glass and metal installation in 2018.

Working in painting, textiles, and social practice, Natalia Nakazawa explores ideas of transnationality, cultural identities, storytelling, archives, and patterns of migration. In her jacquard textiles series, the artist pulls images from the online open access collections with a focus on objects that embody historical moments of cultural exchange. Nakazawa’s work encourages critical engagement with personal histories, utilizing the familiar, warm format of the tapestry as a means of creating objects that can be simultaneously comforting and disruptive. Natalia received her MFA in studio practice from California College of the Arts, a MSEd from Queens College, and a BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her work has recently been exhibited at Wave Hill (Bronx, NY), Arlington Arts Center (Washington, DC), Transmitter Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY), The Cleveland Institute of Art (Cleveland, OH), Wassaic Project (Wassaic, NY), Lafayette College Galleries (Easton, PA), and The Old Stone House in Brooklyn (NY). Natalia has been an artist in residence at The Children’s Museum of Manhattan, MASS MoCA, SPACE on Ryder, Wassaic Project, Facebook AIR, Interlude Artist Residency, CAMPO Garzon, Triangle Arts Association, and Wave Hill Winter Workspace.