Posts in Past
Political Inheritance

Political Inheritance is a visual arts exhibition and literary performance series featuring womxn-identifying artists of Asian and Pacific Islander diasporic experiences with the goal of provoking reflection, conversation, and bridging about the inherited experiences—passed down within cultures and families—that shape AAPI’s relationships to U.S. political systems and U.S. political action.

Political Inheritance unearths and contextualizes the breadth of tensions, assumptions, joys, and traumas inherited in AAPI U.S. political participation or lack thereof, while catalyzing a dialogue that questions the perception of political identities.

Read More
ILLUMINATE III: Ancestry and Possibility

An evening of poetry that honors the legacy of Asian & Asian American ancestry while planting seeds of hope, affirmation, and power for the future. Co-presented by Political Inheritance, AAWAA, and Oakland Asian Cultural Center as part of the Flor y Canto Literary Festival .

ILLUMINATE III is an iteration of the poetry performance series from Political Inheritance, a visual arts exhibition and literary performance featuring womxn-identifying artists of Asian and Pacific Islander diasporic experiences with the goal of provoking reflection, conversation, and bridging about the inherited experiences—passed down within cultures and families—that shape AAPI’s relationships to U.S. political systems and U.S. political action. For the most recent updates, please visit politicalinheritance.com. Political Inheritance is the culminating event of AAWAA’s Emerging Curators Program.

Read More
Sowing Agency: Seeding the Future for Environmental Justice

Sowing Agency is inspired by the fight for environmental justice, activating our Asian Pacific Islander communities to engage in the issues of today’s climate crisis. With a number of artistic disciplines represented, the pieces featured in the show work to realign our relationships with the Earth through introspection and collective leadership. The exhibition’s broad coalition of community partners amplifies calls for increased action to challenge extractive industries, monocultures, corporate greed and colonization. Weaving local and global climate resistance into our cultural consciousness, Sowing Agency is a visual and poetic address to the grief and resiliency rooted in “seeding the future.”

Presented by the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center as part of the 24th annual United States of Asian America Festival: Forging Our Futures - SoMa & Chinatown.

Read More
POPADUM! REVISITED

POPADUM! REVISITED takes form as a visual and literary curation, bringing together artists that subvert and question gender within their art. In the artwork, there’s a search for a home, with gazes turned towards the physical body indivisible from gender roles, family ties, and community. This exhibition brings together art that challenges the status quo by using and updating traditional South Asian tropes, idioms, artistic styles, and pop culture.

The art explores the ornamental beauty of South Asia - jewelry, kohl, elaborate outfits - celebrates it, questions it, exaggerates it. What does this outward emphasis on beauty, often holding symbols of gender, religion, caste and class, mean for the artist and the viewer?

The artists featured here are part of a larger cohort of multidisciplinary creators scheduled for the original Popadum! exhibition in 2020. Uprooted by the pandemic, POPADUM! REVISITED finds its home in the I-Hotel Manilatown Center, cradled by the legacy of the struggle by Filipino and Chinese tenants.

Read More
Slide Slam 2021

Join us for our annual SLIDE SLAM where AAWAA Artists Members and other invited Asian American women artists present their work in a rapid-fire format of 4 slides in 4 minutes. See what these artists have been working on while getting a chance to network with other artists and arts community members.

Read More
Artist Panel & Conversation: Invisibility, Postcolonial Feminisms

Join established artist, organizer Nancy Hom and emerging artists, Menaja Ganesh and Greer Nakadegawa-Lee, for a conversation moderated by Laura Fantone, author of Local Invisibility, Postcolonial Feminisms. This intergenerational panel will explore the experiences of Asian American women artists and highlight the impactful contributions they are making in contemporary art, culture, feminism and society at large.

Read More
ILLUMINATE: A Night of Poetry in Solidarity with Asian and Asian American Communities

ILLUMINATE is a virtual poetry reading and open mic in response to the rise in Anti-Asian violence and hate crimes, which have increased by 1900% since the start of the pandemic. Open mic will center Asian, Asian American, and BIPOC poets standing in solidarity with the Asian and Asian American community during this time.

ILLUMINATE is co-curated by Greer Nakadegawa-Lee and Lauren Ito. This programming is presented as part of the Political Inheritance Exhibition co-sponsored by the Asian American Women Artists Association, and the Oakland Asian Cultural Center.

Read More
RECLAIM THE VOTE! A Live Postcard Making Party

October 3, 2020

6:00 PM – 8:00 PM Via Zoom

AAWAA artists and community joined together for an afternoon of participatory arts activism. With a pivotal US election only weeks away and many reports of attempted voter suppression nationwide, AAWAA hosted a call to action to reclaim the vote! It was a lovely program of powerful poetry by Greer Nakadegawa-Lee, Jenny Qi, and Dena Rod, curated by Lauren Ito (Political Inheritance), and some collective art-making by about 25 artists and community members. It was wonderful to see everyone’s faces and catch the different designs everyone was creating. Since the program, over 150 postcards have been mailed to participants all over the US reminding citizens to get out there and vote.

Read More
Past, AAWAAGuest User
Nectarine Wishes

July 15-August 1, 2020

In celebration of last year’s exhibition, Agrarianaa, AAWAA Board President, Michelle Lee adopted two nectarine trees at Masumoto Family Farm. The team drove 3 hours on two weekends to pick these delicious fruits and came back to the Bay with crates full of fresh nectarines, homemade jam, pickled salads and even a sorbet to share with folks at the Japanese American Museum of San Jose. This year’s fundraiser was a success and we raised $250 above our goal!

Read More
Past, AAWAAGuest User
Pass It On: Notes From APA Women in the Arts

Saturday, May 30, 2020
4:00-6:00 PM via Zoom

Join AAWAA in an art salon featuring this year’s Emerging Curator Fellows, Kamardip Singh and Lauren Ito, in conversation with two long time artist members, Lenore Chinn and Lydia Nakashima Degarrod. Each will present their work and what they’re up to during the pandemic. Learn how they got involved with AAWAA and the strides they’re making in their field as artists, curators and researchers.

Read More
AAWAA, PastGuest User
Slide Slam 2020

Saturday, March 21, 2020

4:00 PM-6:00 PM via Zoom

Co-presented by the Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA) and Kearny Street Workshop, join us for our annual SLIDE SLAM where AAWAA Artists Members and other invited Asian American women artists present their work in a rapid-fire format of 4 slides in 4 minutes. See what these artists have been working on while getting a chance to network with other artists and arts community members.

Watch the Video

Read More
PastGuest User
Political Inheritance: Call for Entries

With 2020 elections and 2020 census on the horizon the need for communities to secure resources through political mobilization is more urgent than ever. Submit to Political Inheritance, to take place in May-June 2020, curated by Lauren Ito, a fellow in this year’s Emerging Curators Program and co-presented by AAWAA and the Oakland Asian Cultural Center.

DEADLINE EXTENDED: February 23, 2020 11:59 PST

Read FULL PROSPECTUS to learn more.

Read More
PastGuest User
Submit to Popadum!

Calling all South Asian-identified artists of ALL GENDERS working in visual, literary, and performing arts! We're looking for artists to be in Popadum!, our first Emerging Curators Program 2020 exhibition curated by Kamardip Singh that will take place in March and co-presented by AAWAA and The Galallery.

Deadline extended to Monday, January 20, 11:59PM.

Read FULL PROSPECTUS to learn more.

Graphic by Kamardip Singh (IG: @kakikasi)

Read More
PastGuest User
Holiday Party: Volunteer Appreciation & Studio Gratitude

Sunday, December 8, 2019

2:00 PM-5:00 PM

AAWAA Studio
1890 Bryant St, Ste. 302
San Francisco, CA 94103

Join AAWAA to celebrate the end of its 30th year as we transition out of the studio, bid farewell, and share gratitude to the space and all the work our staff, community and volunteers have done this year. Enjoy this community potluck, crafting party, and more with us!

RSVP Online

Read More
Emerging Curators Program Workshops

Learn how to curate, plan an exhibition, fundraise, market and publicize at these workshops!

CURATION & EXHIBITION PLANNING (SESSION #1)

Saturday, November 2 / 11am-2pm
AAWAA Studio (1890 Bryant St, Ste #302, SF)
Featuring Tiffany Yau of The Galallery, one of the exhibition spaces in this year’s program.

FUNDRAISING & MARKETING + PUBLICITY (SESSION #2)

Saturday, November 9 / 2-4pm
The Secret Alley (180 Capp St, SF)

Get Tickets - $20 per session (2 workshops) / AAWAA Members FREE

Read More
PastGuest UserPast