IN THE 1930S, a savvy developer embarked on a real-estate venture in Samcheong, a neighborhood in the heart of Seoul that was once home to a six-hundred-year-old village. Using modern materials for an urban update to the traditional Korean building style, the company created the Bukchon Hanok Village, a tony residential area whose narrow winding streets are now firmly on the tourist map.On Monday of Seoul Art Week, Various Small Fires hosted a reception in one of Bukchon’s hanoks, whose basement had been retooled as a viewing room for a suite of painted prints by Kyungmi Shin. Those who snuck
Finding a Penfriend in Best! Letters from Asian Americans in the Arts
An open letter to n+1’s new anthology, which explores themes of racial aggression and privilege as well as celebrating solidarity
Dear
Best! Letters from Asian Americans in the Arts,
First, a confession: I am not Asian American. (I was born in London, am Chinese and monoracial, and have lived in both New York and Hong Kong, where I’m currently writing this letter.) Asian American identity politics is, generally, a no-go area for me: it is a delicate space; I do not want to intrude. I think of one particular literary magazine whose submission page includes the lines: ‘Do not send ideas about people and events in Asia unless they convey something about the Asian diaspora that resonates with the Asian American experience.’ Interesting. I wonder who decided that division – not unification – defined experiences of colonialism, oppression, pain and resilience? (Y