ARTIVISM
Art + Activism
“When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.”
- Audre Lorde
PHASE ONE
This is the earliest phase of activism. This is when I was fresh/not jaded/ready to fight everyone and anyone for the sake of…humanity? This is a stage where I absorbed so much new information and became “woke” to all the things, that privilege and apathy kept me in blissful ignorance. This is the phase where I suddenly felt the urgency to do something about it just because I was now aware. This is the learning phase where trial and error becomes an active part of your journey. I learned that you cannot get people to listen if you beat them over the head with your message. I learned that we need to pick and choose our battles. I learned that we need to become more intentional with how we channel our grievances at systemic and systematic oppression.
#ThisIs2016
New York Times editor Michael Luo wrote an open letter to a woman who told him to “go back to China" in October 2016 and started the hashtag, #thisis2016. During this turbulent time, I spearheaded a photo campaign that unexpectedly went viral on a global scale. I wanted to create a project that would speak for itself, allow for mass participation, and most importantly, start productive dialogues. This was purely intended to be showcased at our university internally and added as content for our Asian Student Alliance Facebook page, but it really took off in so many different ways.
Un-Silenced Exhibit
As part of No Hate November—an annual month-long event at Bowdoin that seeks to educate the community about prejudice and racism in order to combat them—I set out to create a statement installation. Through the collaboration with my photographer friend, Daniel Jang, we were able to make this idea into a genuine reality.
PHASE TWO
This is the burnout phase of activism. This stems from going a bit “too hard” on the activism, thinking that you have to burn bridges with people due to “irreconcilable differences” of views, and having to swallow the hard pill of facing the reality of an uphill battle that is far bigger than any activist. This is a period of reflection and realizing that your way of going about things may not have been the most efficient or productive. This is where I realized that my relentless reposting in attempts to educate the masses was no good because my circles were essentially just echo chambers, where no new information goes out and the messages do not get delivered to the right people. So, this is the phase where you hunker down and figure out how you want to go about things now that you have reflected on your first phase of activism. This phase is far from perfecting where you want to be at. It’s rather another experimental stage. Hence, the variety of artivism projects.
There’s a lot of losses, but also wins in hindsight.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Atlanta
I like to joke a lot “Once you join Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Atlanta, they never let you leave whether you like it or not” But AAAJ holds a very special place in my heart. Not only have they hired me for many different commissions and events, but they have also helped me grow as an activist.
PHASE THREE
This is the phase where you are grown and worn. This is where you have no expectations from anyone or anything and have come to terms with things. This is where you go “rogue” and make your own path in how you want to go about activism (if you still want to stick with it).
At this point, I witnessed many incidents of how money really talks in this capitalist society. So I decide to “retire” from the frontlines of activist and work behind the scenes to “pay it forward” literally. After years of experience in the field, I found that having meaningful individual conversations, creating a safe environment to openly ask questions, and being purely educational are the best ways to make impact on people. Most importantly, this is what works for me. It’s a painstakingly slow and tedious process, but it allows for productive dialogue and reflection.
This is the phase where I no longer am consumed by rage and grief and do not want to be defined solely on negative events and trauma. I want to make a positive impact and celebrate our identities. I want to highlight the best parts of ourselves through my work.
ABC’s of AAPIs Coloring Book
Asian American Advocacy Fund in Georgia approached us post Atlanta Spa Shootings, asking how we could move forward after a traumatic event? After many discussions with community members, organizers, and creatives, the conversations all led back to our children: what can we teach them that can instill in them a sense of belonging, responsibility, and hope for this state and this country?
So my co-creative director Kavi and I decided that our response to that would be: an ABC’s of AAPIs Coloring Book that will not only expand the creativity of children, but also educate them on AAPI history and its key figures. We wanted to fill the voids that we, as adult have, due to the lack of visibility, validation, and resources growing up.
We created a team of 19 Asian American artists located locally in metro Atlanta to created this book. We decided to fittingly release this book in May to honor Asian Heritage Month.
