4 LA Art Exhibitions That Bring the Experiences of Asian Latinos Out of the Shadows

By  Adriana Cataño

Art by Alan López for Remezcla

Art by Alan López for Remezcla

Pacific Standard Time: L.A./L.A. – a project that’s been more than a year in the making – is finally making its debut this month. At more than 50 institutions in Southern California, exhibitions will explore the relationship between Latin America and Los Angeles. The impressive undertaking looks at often overlooked parts of our history, gives female artists a much-needed platform, and recognizes important figures from North America, South America, and the Caribbean.

The exhibitions are also challenging our perceptions of what being Latin American or Latino means, which means that groups that often experience erasure, like Asian Latinos, are well represented. Pacific Standard Time: L.A./L.A. highlights the contributions of Asian Latinos in places like Cuba, Brazil, Panama, and Mexico. Here are four exhibitions that focus on the Asian Latino experience.

Pacific Standard Time: L.A./L.A. kicks off September 15. Learn more here. 

1

Transpacific Borderlands: The Art of Japanese Diaspora in Lima, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and São Paulo

Where: Japanese American National Museum, 100 N. Central Ave., Los Angeles, California
When: September 17, 2017 to February 25, 2018

Transpacific Borderlands looks at the work of 17 contemporary artists of Japanese ancestry from Lima, Mexico City, São Paulo, and Los Angeles. The exhibition also shows that the Asian Latino experience widely varies regionally.

“In the 20th century, Japanese migrants arrived in large numbers in North and South America. Their experiences differed by country, ranging from strong assimilation in Mexico to cultural hybridity in Brazil to the trauma of wartime incarceration in the United States. Transpacific Borderlands presents artists whose works can be read with and against these histories, including Eduardo Tokeshi (Peru), Madalena Hashimoto Cordaro (Brazil), and Shizu Saldamando (U.S.). Ultimately, Transpacific Borderlands will contribute to a broader reconsideration of identity in a world where the meanings of race and ethnicity are constantly evolving, and where artists often inhabit dynamic transnational spaces.”

Learn more here.

2

Circles and Circuits I: History and Art of the Chinese Caribbean Diaspora

Where: California African American Museum, 600 State Drive, Exposition Park, Los Angeles, California
When: September 15, 2017 to February 25, 2018

This exhibition looks at the art of the Chinese Caribbean diaspora. “The presentation at CAAM will trace the history of Chinese Caribbean art from the 1930s through the period of the region’s independence movements, showcasing the contributions of artists little known outside their own countries, such as Sybil Atteck (Trinidad and Tobago) and Manuel Chong-Neto (Panama), and providing a new context for understanding the better-known work of Wifredo Lam (Cuba).”

Learn more here.

3

Circles and Circuits II: Contemporary Chinese Caribbean Art

Where: Chinese American Museum, 425 N. Los Angeles St., Los Angeles, California
When: September 15, 2017 to March 11, 2018

Circles and Circuits is a two-part exhibition. “At CAM, the exhibition will focus on the work of contemporary artists such as Albert Chong and María Magdalena Campos-Pons, as well as artists of the ongoing Chinese Caribbean diaspora. The contemporary works featured explore issues of post-colonial history, popular culture, personal history, and the body.”

Learn more here.

4

Winds from Fusang: Mexico and China in the Twentieth Century

Where: USC Pacific Asia Museum, 46 N. Los Robles Ave.,
Pasadena, California
When: December 8, 2017 to June 10, 2018

“Winds from Fusang: Cultural Dialogues between Mexican and Chinese Artists will be the first major exhibition to explore the influence of 20th-century Latin American art and artists on contemporary Chinese art. While it is generally believed that only after the ‘opening’ of China in the 1980s did the West begin to play a significant role in shaping contemporary Chinese art, there were, in fact, other Western influences prior to the Cultural Revolution, especially at mid- century, when China was supposedly closed to the outside world. Using works from public and private collections in the U.S., China, and Latin America, Crossing Pacific will demonstrate how themes, techniques, and specific artists from Mexico and other Latin American countries who visited China—including José Venturelli, Miguel Covarrubias, and David Alfaro Siqueiros–had an outsized influence on the burgeoning Chinese contemporary art community.”

Learn more here.

art asian experience