FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JANUARY 6, 2022 • THE QUEENS COURIER 27
Asian American artists’ banners on display at Noguchi Museum in LIC
BY KAYLA WONG
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
In response to the rising anti-Asian hate
crimes, the Noguchi Museum in Long
Island City launched its fi rst open call for
artist banners and honored the fi nalists
at an opening reception, where
the banner debuted.
Th e event held in November was
attended by the artists and their
guests, the museum’s partner
organizations, elected offi cials
and staff members, including
museum director Brett Littman,
who opened the reception.
With the aim of raising awareness
and amplifying local AAPI
voices, emerging AAPI artists
based in Queens were invited to
submit designs for the museum’s
outdoor banner space to advocate
for anti-racism, where one artist
would win an honorarium of
$1,000 and two runners-up would
each receive $500.
Th e initiative was created to show
solidarity with museum founder
Isamu Noguchi’s Japanese heritage
and act against the Asian hate that
has been circulating the news since
the onset of the pandemic.
“Amid escalating violence against
the AAPI community and across the
United States, the staff felt absolutely
held to demonstrate proof that we are
allies with these marginalized communities,”
Littman said in his opening
remarks.
According to the Noguchi Museum’s
media coordinator Justin Baez, artist submissions
were evaluated by a jury composed
of the museum’s organizing committee,
a cross-departmental, intergenerational
group of staff volunteers, including
himself, and representatives from
two local partner organizations, Queens
Council on the Arts and Asian American
Arts Alliance.
Aft er receiving and narrowing down
over 20 submissions, the museum selected
Chemin Hsiao as the inaugural winner
and Woomin Kim and Mo Kong as
runners-up.
Presented across six outdoor banners,
Hsiao’s work, entitled “Dandelions Know”
(2021), was chosen for its powerful message
of anti-racism, solidarity and hope in
response to the growing tide of violence
and fear faced by Asian Americans and
Pacifi c Islanders across the U.S.
“What drew us to Hsiao’s work was his
ability to capture a lot of personal emotions
toward the subject, doing it in a way
that was aesthetically translatable to the
banners,” Baez said. “We also appreciated
how he tackled not just anti-racism but
the current political landscape in a way
that was narrative.”
Hsiao, a Taiwanese visual artist based in
Elmhurst, was initially hesitant to submit
a banner proposal, struggling with how to
tackle the heavy subject matter.
What ultimately propelled him to participate
was how much he admired and related
to Noguchi’s experience as Nisei,
a second-generation Japanese
American, especially during
World War II.
In his essay, “I Become a Nisei,” Noguchi
wrote that Niseis are “a middle people
with no middle ground.” Th is particular
quote, Hsiao said, is the essence behind
the central dandelion piece.
“Largely, the banner should be about
Asian hate crimes and violence, but that
specifi c piece is about Mr. Noguchi himself
and how he’s feeling and how I related
to it being from Taiwan,” Hsiao said. “I
just took on this perspective and thought,
as a Taiwanese person and an AAPI community
member living in New York, how
do I feel?”
When you arrive at the entrance of the
museum, the banners are presented in a
sequential standing: 1) “Surrounded,” 2)
“Fear,” 3) “Cut the Loop,” 4) “Dandelions
Know (as they fl oat, too),” 5) “Heal and
Forgive (if possible),” 6) “We are Only
Human. Keep Communicating.”
“Each of them serves a diff erent purpose,
but if I had to pick my favorite, it’s
the happy accident one in the center of
the series, the dandelion one,” Hsiao said.
“When I planned the six draft s, that one
was the hardest one coming out because
it’s not really related to
the Asian hate crimes,
but eventually, that’s
the one people relate
to the most.”
Hsiao’s hope is that the public aspect of
the artwork will pique the interest of anyone
passing by and prompt them to stop,
look and be curious.
Inside the museum, there is a description
of the banner, as well as the descriptions
and visuals of the banner proposals
by the two runners-up.
Kong, a Chinese multidisciplinary artist
and researcher residing in Sunnyside,
created their pieces during the middle
of the pandemic, curating objects, such
as food and trinkets from childhood, in
the tradition of classic art inside of their
refrigerator.
Whether the images act as a sort of riddle
or as a familiar ensemble, Kong hopes
people can still create a connection to the
images.
“What I’m trying to do is use this
project as a mirror to refl ect and check
our personal history, where we come
from and why certain things are important
to us,” Kong said. “I also want to
show, especially for kids and immigrant
kids, the possibilities to make artwork.
Th ere doesn’t have to be high access to
start making art, but it can be something
around you.”
Th e next runner-up, Kim, a South
Korean artist based in Ridgewood, wanted
to change the inaccurate and xenophobic
narrative surrounding shijang, or
street markets.
“I just wanted to create the narrative of
shijang in the way that I know which feels
more accurate to me, which is very colorful
and celebrative and full of energy
and vibrancy,” Kim said. “It is an organic
curation of materials that might not make
sense in Whole Foods or in Trader Joe’s.”
Th e museum was drawn to the way
Kim’s aesthetics combined with the
theme, especially with her use of textiles
and materiality. “Th e way she created the
banners sort of speak on the day-to-day,
quotidian nature of Asian American life
and elevated it,” Baez said.
Th rough her panels, Kim hopes she
can give visitors in Asian communities
moments of familiarity and remind them
of their own memories in a celebratory
way, as well as be a voice for the daily
experiences of Asian people for those who
aren’t familiar.
“We’re really proud of our fi nalists and
the artists who have submitted,” Baez said.
“We hope this serves as a precedent and
we can continue this series in the subsequent
years, taking on diff erent tones and
diff erent requirements but still holding on
to that core vision and desire to amplify
the voices of local artists.”
buzz
Photos by Katherine Abbott
Banners made by Queens-based Asian American artists hang from the
Noguchi Museum in Long Island City.
(Froml. to r.) Mo Kong, Woomin Kim and
Chemin Hsiao won the Noguchi Museum’s
open call.
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