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Orange County Center for Contemporary Art and The Vietnamese American Arts and Letters Association (VAALA) are pleased to present the exhibition YELLOW SUBMARINE RISING: Currentswithin Asian American Art Curated by Thuy N. D. Tran Saturday December 3, from 5:00 – 10:00 pm Featured artists: Antonius-Tin Bui, Binh Danh, Alison Ho, Bonnie Huang, Alina Kawai, Victo Ngai, Dan Lynh Pham and Jave Yoshimoto. This exhibition is the last program of VAALA’s 30th anniversary, closing out 2022. |
November 17, 2022, Santa Ana, CA Java Yoshimoto Sun Tzu |
About the Exhibition
The exhibition serves as both contemplations and counterpoints to the Asian American experience and was conceived as an urgent response to the exponential rise in racially-driven hate crimes committed against the AAPI community. According to the 2021 Orange County Hate Crimes Report by OC Human Relation Commission, there was a 43% increase of anti-Asian/Pacific Islander hate crimes and a 164% increase in anti-Asian/Pacific Islander hate incidents from 2020 to 2021. The hate and harm experienced stems from an extensive history of xenophobic policies, systemic discrimination and AAPI misrepresentation in the media.
Yellow Submarine Rising is organized into four themed galleries—Cultural Legacies, Belonging_Home, Elevating Empowerment, and Transferences and Futures. Each theme respectively touches upon our humanistic desires for: cultural continuity as found in Alina Kawai’s symbolisms and in Antonius Bui’s provocative papercuts; of rooting oneself into a place as reflected in Binh Danh’s portrait photographs and embodied in Bonnie Huang’s interwoven fibers; of finding courage against the odds as in Jave Yoshimoto’s masterful lasercuts and paintings, Dan Lynh Pham’s feminist visions, or in Alison Ho’s vulnerable installations; and finally of ensuring a more hopeful legacy as Victo Ngai’s children’s book illustrations and Project Honor murals reveal.
The exhibition is presented in partnership with the Orange County Asian Pacific Islander Community Alliance (OCAPICA) and supported in part by the California Department of Social Service Stop The Hate - Transformative funding.
Special Exhibition Programming includes:
Saturday, December 3, 2022, 5pm to 10pm - Opening Night Reception during the Downtown Santa Ana Art Walk; will include special poetry and spoken word performances by Asian American artists (7pm to 8:30pm)
Saturday, December 10, 2022, 1pm to 3pm - Childrens’ Author Book Panel & Childrens’ Book Reading; programming includes family-friendly craft activities
Saturday, December 17, 2022, 2pm to 3pm - Conversations with artist Binh Danh, featuring his artistic practice and new monograph, Binh Danh: The Enigma of Belonging (Radius Books, 2022)
Thuy N. D. Tran, the curator
Thuy N. D. Tran is an interdisciplinary art historian of modern and contemporary art of the Asian diaspora. Her research travels span from the deep archives of the Library of Congress to some of the most private art collections in Southeast Asia. Through her extensive work as a community activist, art curator, university educator and contributing scholar, she strives to decolonize and make accessible the traditionally Western-centric and elitist field of art history.
PR CONTACT:
Christine Tran VAALA Managing Director christinetran@vaala.org (714) 805-7363
About VAALA
Founded in 1991 by Vietnamese American journalists, artists and community members to fill a void and provide a space for artists to express themselves as a newly resettled immigrant community, the mission of the Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association (VAALA) is to connect and enrich communities through Vietnamese arts and culture. Celebrating its 30th year of service, VAALA collaborates with diverse community partners to organize community-centered artistic cultural events, including art exhibitions, book signings, music recitals, plays and its annual Viet Film Fest and Gallery Beyond Walls programming. More information about VAALA on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
Founded by artists in 1980 and located in the heart of Santa Ana Artist Village, OCCCA is a
non-profit, 501(3)(c) corporation, dedicated to the pursuit of professional excellence in the arts, a constantly changing showcase for artists, educators, and community activists. Always free admission, OCCCA recognizes the importance of social engagement, global networking, intellectual exchange, critical dialogue, and the collaborative process. OCCCA presents exhibitions of contemporary art, along with concerts, performances, art classes, symposiums, and publications.
117 North Sycamore Street, Santa Ana, CA 92701 - Phone: 714 667 1517
email: info.occca@gmail.com
Gallery hours: Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, from noon to 5 pm
The gallery will be closed on November 12th for a private event.
Additional hours by appointment: send an email to Carolyn Yarnell cy2332@aol.com