The Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA) and API Cultural Center‘s (APICC) 14th United States of Asian America Festival are pleased to present A PLACE OF HER OWN, an arts exhibition where 23 Asian American women artists respond in thought provoking ways to the question, ““If you had a place of your own, what would it be?”
Conceived in 2007, curator Cynthia Tom has developed A PLACE OF HER OWN as a long-term project inspired by the idea of environments for women or encouraging the women to build their own. Across cultures and generations, and through necessity, parental, or cultural training—women have learned to compromise themselves. They set aside their own desires to support others; rarely do women claim a place of their own, metaphorically or physically. What happens when we expand the parameters beyond the concept of a room and discover a place in which the limitations are bound by the imagination and nothing more?A PLACE OF HER OWN provides an exceptional glimpse into the unique and diverse experiences of the modern Asian American woman. The artwork depicts a personal, yet universal, journey to seek out and claim a metaphorical and/or physical place without external rules or expectations, acting as a vehicle for each artist to interact with their world on their own terms. These artistic responses come to fruition as art installations, written word, paintings, printmaking, and more. Catherine Ceniza Choy, Associate Professor Ethnic Studies-U.C. Berkeley.
The exhibition is curated by APICC and AAWAA’s curatorial team; juried by Kim Anno, Chair of Painting at the California College of the Arts, and Kimi Taira, assistant at the Asian Art Museum Conservation Department. The exhibition is made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts, APICC and the California Arts Council.
Closing reception: Thursday, May 26 from 6:00p.m. to 9:00p.m.
Participating Artists:
Almazol, Susan
Arastu, Salma
Biala, Arlene
DeBoer, Shari Arai
Fiel, Cristal
Fujii-Oka, Kathy
Hom, Nancy
Ichihashi-Jagerman, Amanda
Kang, Kay
Llagas, Karen
Louie, Elaine
Mazza, Christina
Myers, Kelsay
Oshiro, Choppy
Pelaud, Isabelle
Seigel, Shizue
Sharma, Pallavi
Shintani, Judy
Tom, Cynthia
Travelslight, Elizabeth
Truong, Vivian
Wibawa, Irene
Wong, Anna
Zheng, Xiaojie
