The Amp Issue 2: Letter from the Editor

“There is a solidarity whose horizon is assimilation, and there is a solidarity whose horizon is liberation. The former is hierarchical to those it is in solidarity with. The latter is in community with them. The former treats them as abstraction. The latter is citational. It names those it loves.”

—Fady Joudah, “When It Takes Root in the Heart: A Conversation with Fady Joudah”

The cover of this year’s print issue of The Amp is designed by the Palestinian American artist Samia Halaby. It features the word “Palestine” written in Arabic, repeated in a mandala-like arrangement without beginning or end—a simple but declarative continuum. This cover, we felt, echoed the deeply held solidarity many of our writers have voiced this past year.

For many Asian Americans, the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the institutional censorship of its protesters has raised a foundational question: To what end has this identity been cultivated? Over 40 years after Asian American Arts Alliance first coalesced to ensure greater AAPI representation in art and culture, it has become imperative to ask not just whether we see ourselves but how we see ourselves.

Reflecting this, our writers looked carefully. Some searched the past in order to gain perspective on an increasingly tenuous present. Others used their own multifaceted identities and experiences as a lens through which to observe the art around them. In shining a light on artists, our writers offered close examinations and illuminating insights. Throughout, the articles published this year underscore the ways in which our own individual conversations with culture are what germinate a greater resonant meaning.

With such an enormous diversity of diasporas and experiences, we have been reminded that solidarity must be the bedrock of our identity, lest we erode into disparate particles; a difference between stone and sand.

As we consider what it means to hold fast to one another, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our ever-growing community of contributors, readers, and supporters. You have made it possible for The Amp to continue to develop as a place for depth, discovery, and dialogue.

I’d also like to thank my colleagues at Asian American Arts Alliance—Lisa Gold, Danielle Wu, Justine Lee, Rehana Mirza, Leo Chang, Stephanie Shin, Grace Blackmar—and give a special shout out to Sophie Nguyen, our first Amp intern. I couldn’t ask for a better team of people to navigate such deflating times with; thanks for being exceptionally smart, talented, funny, and kind. Thank you as well to Helen Chen, who designed both print issues of The Amp, and our printers, Lucky Risograph.

Interested in supporting more thoughtful writing about and by AAPI artists and writers? Consider a recurring donation to The Amp! We couldn’t do this without you.

In community and with care,

Shannon Lee
Editor, The Amp