The artists are inspired by personal experiences informed by historical events that have shaped their diasporic identities. Some of them call on their memories of home, remembering favorite activities such as karaoke, reassessing their childhood relationships with their parents from a position of adult maturity, or contemplating the future that awaits their own children. Others employ historical research, considering the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, or the Filipino Rough Riders who traveled with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in the late 1800s. The links between past, present, and future are manifested in everyday objects like balikbayan boxes, or in the frustration of English-language autocorrect technology replacing a person’s name with an anglicized alternative.
Artists include Eliza O. Barrios, Ching Ching Cheng, Daieny Chin, Jisoo Chung, Maya Fuji, Sush Machida Gaikotsu, Jeannie Hua, Hue, Phung Huynh, Jeanne F. Jalandoni, Eri King, Maryrose Cobarrubias Mendoza, Quindo Miller, Jiha Moon, May Nguyen, Ian Racoma, Michael Rippens, Yumi Janairo Roth and Emmanuel David, Jennifer Seo, Stephanie Shih, Stephanie H. Shih, TT Takemoto, Sherwin Rivera Tibayan, Maria Villote, and Christine Wong Yap. The exhibition incorporates oral histories from Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project, a project by the Oral History Research Center at UNLV Libraries.
Living Here was created in consultation with Dr. Constancio Arnaldo, Jean Munson, and Dr. Mark Padoongpatt. The Museum would like to thank the Oral History Research Center at UNLV Libraries, Reflections Project Manager Stefani Evans, and Oral History Research Center Director Claytee White; as well as our research assistants Daniela Castañeda and Daniel Taylor.
This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support is generously provided by Evan Louie, Bill Shihara, and the Lieutenant Erik Lloyd Family.
Click here to view the exhibition catalog
