Dimensions: 15 x 7 x 7 Media: Wheel thrown porcelain jar with lid, cobalt underglaze painting, reduction fired to cone 10 with clear glaze. Artist Statement : While the APIMEDA diaspora are major beneficiaries of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, in recent years, a vocal minority of the community have actively campaigned against Affirmative Action, particularly in regards to admissions at elite higher education institutions. Anti-civil rights groups have leveraged the frustrations of these people to use them as a cultural wedge in the fight to repeal DEI initiatives and further enshrine white supremacy through policy. "Diversity Affirms Culture" uses stereotypical forms and aesthetics in conjunction with contemporary elements (such as quotes from both anti- and pro-Affirmative Action supporters, language used in political demonstrations, and media headlines) to highlight the cultural disconnect that underlies the anti-Affirmative Action views held by some APIMEDA individuals and to affirm that our cultures are strengthened, not weakened, through solidarity with other marginalized groups.
Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 5 Media: Wheel thrown porcelain mei ping (vase), cobalt underglaze, reduction fired to cone 10 with Frazier celadon glaze. Artist Statement : Food is a ubiquitous feature in all cultures around the world. Beyond any specific dish or cuisine, the behaviors and attitudes surrounding food can be a unique expression of culture. In many APIMEDA communities, preparing food for others is widely understood to be an act of love. Similarly, people from these communities will often greet each other by asking if they’ve eaten yet in lieu of more straightforward greetings like ‘how are you doing?’. All of which serves to frame food and the sustenance of loved ones as something of high cultural significance. “Have You Eaten Yet?” depicts the mundane but culturally significant act of preparing a meal using traditional forms and aesthetics typical to Ming dynasty pottery. By capturing an unremarkable act, such as cooking, in a style that mimics pottery stereotypically perceived as precious artifacts of cultural heritage, this piece elevates an everyday task as an act of cultural practice worthy of documenting and preserving.
Dimensions: 8 x 10 x 1 Media: Oil on Board Artist Statement : I am a nature lover and dedicated into representative landscape painting. My recent works are mostly about nature spots in Baltimore, Maryland, where I have completed my grad school.
In my free time, I like to explore within the city I live and walk into the nature, hiking, boating, fishing and bird watching. At the same time, I would pay attention to the good sights I pass by and save them for my painting references.
Dimensions: 8 x 10 x 1 Media: Oil on Board Artist Statement : I am a nature lover and dedicated into representative landscape painting. My recent works are mostly about nature spots in Baltimore, Maryland, where I have completed my grad school.
In my free time, I like to explore within the city I live and walk into the nature, hiking, boating, fishing and bird watching. At the same time, I would pay attention to the good sights I pass by and save them for my painting references.
Dimensions: 11.5 x 8.5 Media: graphite on paper Artist Statement : This pencil portrait captures the innocence and confidence of a young Ladakhi girl, whose face tells a story of resilience, tradition, and connection to the high Himalayan landscape she calls home. Through fine graphite detail and careful shading, I aimed to reflect not just her facial features, but the spirit of Ladakh itself—a place of stark beauty and rich cultural heritage.
Her eyes, calm and wise beyond her years, became the emotional focal point of the piece. I chose pencil as my medium to emphasize simplicity, subtlety, and depth, echoing the understated strength of the people of Ladakh.
This work is both a tribute and a moment of pause—a reminder of the stories etched in young faces, shaped by generations and geography, and the quiet dignity that can speak louder than words.
Dimensions: 11.5 x 8.5 Media: graphite on paper Artist Statement : This pencil portrait portrays an elderly woman who was serving at a local monastery I visited in Ladakh. Her face is a map of time-etched with lines of resilience, grace, and quiet wisdom. Her eyes are alive with humor and joy. With each mark of the pencil, I sought to honor her individuality and quiet strength.
Her expression, both gentle and confident, reflects a life lived in harmony with the harsh yet majestic environment of Ladakh. I chose pencil for its ability to capture fine detail and emotional nuance, allowing the textures of age and experience to emerge with honesty and respect.
This piece is a homage to the silent stories carried by elders in remote corners of the world—stories that deserve to be seen, felt, and remembered.
Dimensions: 20 x 16 Media: Wintergreen oil transfer print, mulberry ink, mushroom ink and graphite on paper Artist Statement : I used wintergreen oil to create two photo-transfers of family photographs (the photograph of my grandmother was in a museum in Cuyo, Palawan, Philippines where she was an English teacher and where, a year later, my grandparents were married. My cousin’s daughter took a photo of the photo while visiting Cuyo). As a base layer, beneath the photographs, I copied information on anti-miscegenation laws that were passed almost as soon as European immigrants arrived in North America. The top photograph, of my grandmother, shows her as a ghost-like figure and symbolizes the erasure of our Filipino heritage. Her marriage to my grandfather was not legal in most states in the U.S.; they married in the Philippines a year after this photo was taken. At bottom is a photograph of my parents and grandparents, taken in 1954, thirteen years before my parents' marriage was legal in Virginia, where I was raised…or North Carolina, where my mother was raised…or Maryland, where I live.
Dimensions: 40 x 40 x 1.5 Media: Oil on canvas Artist Statement : There are things invisible to the naked eye and sometimes visible when a photograph is taken.
I work in a way that draws metaphysical forms that are invisible to the naked eye but reflected in a photograph in comparison with the visible.
There are so many things I couldn’t see. I was right next to the valuable thing hidden but only realized it after the thing was gone. I am trying to find the invisible that brings me comfort in the life of the painting.
The Peace that nature gives me; the mysticism of another form of nature that exist next to the beauty of life discovered while drawing visible plants, makes my heart flutter.
From Unseen on Eyes 10 shows invisible Things contains prayers and concerns for North Korean soldiers who have been killed in the war in Ukraine. The only thing I can do for world peace is prayer, so I put my wish for the safety and peace of the soldiers in the painting.
Dimensions: 20 x 16 x 0.875 Media: Oil painting Artist Statement : From my artwork, I want the viewers to feel at home, which for me means being able to be oneself and being at ease. Feeling at home continues to be a definition I am learning and redefining as someone who has felt displaced in many places as a Third Culture Kid (TCK). The term TCK refers to children who grow up in a culture that’s different from one’s own or of their parents’ backgrounds. I can see many aspects of commonality in immigrant communities, as well as in those who move a lot, living a nomadic lifestyle. As I explore feelings of belonging, I want to create art that can bring viewers one step closer to connecting with our environments. In my search for home, I’ve grown closer to the natural landscapes of the Earth, and reshaping my relationship to the word as a connection to life on all living things.
Dimensions: 12 x 16 Media: Pen and paint Artist Statement : The project of my work is paying attention to familiar, ordinary spaces, items, people, and moments through a South Asian diasporic lens. I transpose color, texture, and figurative positions to reveal a panorama of South Asian and American perspectives. Kantha is a layered work - with detailed mark-making depicting stitches, motifs, and folds of a traditional kantha fabric juxtaposed with the listless poses of a woman, clothed in dissimilar attire. The figures are suffused with vivid colors, almost as if they have saturated the colors from the kantha fabric around them. Kantha explores the contrast of the familiar and sometimes conflicting spaces that a second generation American inhabits.
Dimensions: 12 x 16 Media: Pen and paint Artist Statement : I observe large expanses and bring them to a microfocus- through narrowing on one section of a grocery store aisle, one area of a neighborhood, one small swath of fabric, one moment of a pose. Similar to much of my work, Unfolding utilizes hand cut stencils on a gelli plate inked with vibrant paints. Layers of these are pulled and then drawn on top with paint pens. Each layer is a revisiting of histories, of familiarity, and of displacement.
Dimensions: 9 x 4 x 4 Media: Hand-embroidery. Fine cotton floss. Cotton fabric. Artwork is about 6" in diameter. Includes a 4" base and 9" high tabletop stand. Artist Statement : The Chinese were racialized as inferior, alien, and judged to be perpetual foreigners during the 1850s when anti-Chinese labor sentiment grew. Negative images of the Chinese as being violent, sneaky, diseased heathens, and perverts developed and were popularized in the media throughout U.S. history. These images have seeped into the American psyche for 175 years forming unconscious stereotypes that dehumanize Asians and Asian Americans. Despite the assimilation of Asians and Asian Americans thriving in the U.S., these negative stereotypes and the political "Chinese virus" rhetoric brought about racism and violence against them during the COVID-19 pandemic of the 2020s, treating them again as perpetual foreigners and scapegoats. I am a U.S.-born Chinese American. When will Asian Americans be fully accepted in the United States!
Dimensions: 18 x 24 x 0.5 Media: Oil on canvas Artist Statement : This ethereal piece radiates serenity and spiritual reflection. A dove, symbolizing peace, offers a mala bead necklace—an emblem of devotion—to three contemplative figures. Bathed in moonlight, their serene expressions evoke a quiet surrender to wisdom. The contrast of their cool, shadowed faces with crimson lips whispers of life within stillness. The mala beads serve as a bridge between realms, a gift of enlightenment gently bestowed rather than seized. This painting speaks of connection, offering, and the quiet beauty of spiritual awakening.
Dimensions: 12 x 12 Media: Digital photograph Artist Statement : With global access to information via the internet, Christmas has become yet another commercial opportunity for enterprising locals along this roadside in India. Among the wares are Santa suits in various sizes for children, as well as Santa masks and sunglasses, all of which speak to the melding of cultures with lack of appropriate understanding.
Dimensions: 13 x 19 Media: Archival Pigment Print Artist Statement : The collage submitted comes from the series, “Reconciliation”, inspired by the artist’s recent return home to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia after fifteen years away. The series is a meditation on the atemporal, equivocal nature of memory and how the present is parsed through the frame of the past. “Entwine” incorporates photographs taken while traveling in India, where the artist’s father is originally from, paired with images from the artist's life in the US.
Each collage is created by physically manipulating and juxtaposing the artist’s personal photographs. The collages are hand-cut and glued, digitally adjusted, enlarged, and printed to produce the final image.
