In 1990, Godzilla: Asian American Art Network formed to stimulate visibility and critical discourse for Asian American artists, curators, and writers who were negotiating a historically exclusionary art world and society. Founded by Ken Chu, Bing Lee, and Margo Machida, Godzilla produced exhibitions, publications, and community collaborations that sought social change through art and advocacy. Expanding into a nationwide network, the group confronted institutional racism, Western imperialism, anti-Asian violence, the AIDS crisis, and Asian sexuality and gender representation, among other issues.
Asian American artists, now activists, push back against hate
From left: Tomie Arai, ManSee Kong and Betty Yu, founders of the Chinatown Art Brigade, an activist group, in New York, April 8, 2021. Newly spurred to action to combat bias, Asian American artists generate subway posters, leverage social media and stage Zoom webinars. Jingyu Lin/The New York Times.
by Aruna DSouza
(NYT NEWS SERVICE)
.- Early in the pandemic, word started to travel among Asian American artists: Racist attacks were on the rise. Jamie Chan told a fellow artist, Kenneth Tam, about getting kicked out of an Uber pool ride by the driver who noticed her sniffling. Anicka Yi, an artist based in New York, called Christine Y. Kim, a curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, to talk about being spit at on a Manhattan street; Kim, in turn, recounted being accosted in a Whole Foods parking lot.