The Appearance: Asian Diasporas in Latin America & the Caribbean

The Appearance will be the first exhibition in New York to present a selection of works of modern and contemporary art in Latin America and the Caribbean’s Asian Diasporas. Through the display of a range of artistic mediums, such as painting, sculpture, photography and video, the exhibition investigates the idea of appearance, in its myriad connotation, to highlight illegibility and incompleteness as artistic strategies to diasporic artists. At the same time, it also sheds light into forms of being and consciousness that, though sometimes intangible, profoundly shape the subjectivity of Asian diasporic individuals, challenging traditional notions of visibility.

Together, the artworks in this exhibition investigate issues around identity, memory, spirituality, exoticism, and colonization. By featuring works from multiple artists of different generations and cultural backgrounds, the exhibition hopes to present a complex and nuanced understanding of different diasporic subjectivities, informed by movement, adaptability, and the transformation of cultural traditions.

To accompany the show, we will present a series of public programs and publish a catalogue.

The exhibition will be co-curated by Tie Jojima, associate curator and manager of exhibitions at Americas Society, and Yudi Rafael, independent curator based in São Paulo, Brazil.