New York City, March 30, 2021
Artsy's latest editorial addresses the recent spike in racially motivated attacks against Asians in the United States. Throughout U.S. history, Asians have been "used as scapegoats, from the whitewashing of railroad construction to Japanese internment to the murder of Vincent Chin to the "China virus" - all the while being labeled the "model minority".
Artsy spoke to six Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) artists to hear how they have been processing this moment in history.
stephanie mei huang:
"This insurmountable geyser of grief is a violent assault on the conditions of our bodies and their codification––an assault that is unprecedented for myself, and many of the Asian femmes in my life. Perhaps what is more painful is not the shooting itself, but the fact that it took a racialized, sexualized, gendered domestic terrorist attack (that then is sensationalized in the media) to allow for contemporary society to finally provide the Asian American community a sliver of space for a political voice and chance for self-advocacy. And still, the effect of our grief is felt by just a small proportion of white people.
I know our grief will be yet again eclipsed and invisibilized by the reifying of whiteness and colonial structures. It’s dehumanizing; I don’t feel human right now. My body doesn’t matter to most people I pass on the street in Los Angeles."
The full editorial as well as stephanie's full quote can be found at Artsy.
