The gallery at Asian/Asian American House is appropriately entitled “Other Colors of Rice (Not Just White).” The pieces on display deal with a large range of topics, from politics to Asian cultural remembrances, but they all tie in to the main theme of what it means to be Asian or Asian American in the modern world.
The gallery came from very simple beginnings.
“We wanted to do something for April because it’s Asian/Asian American awareness month” said Cecil Apostol ’08, an AAA house resident.
But if the idea for the exhibition was simple, the actual pieces were much more complex. The focal point of the gallery was the work of Stanford Forrester, Coordinator of the Freeman Asian/Asian American Initiative. Forrester is the past president of the American Haiku Society. Many of his haikus, including most of those displayed in AAA House, have appeared in respected haiku publications.
The haiku are printed on white postcard-sized pages. Forrester added simple drawings and an artist’s seal alongside most of the poems. The simple presentation of the haiku enhanced the effectiveness of Forrester’s words.
Forrester’s photography was also on display. As simple naturalistic expressions of his time in Asia, the photographs served as fitting companions to the haiku.
With the exception of Forrester, all the other artists were Wesleyan students. Jennifer Gopilan ’07, one of the organizers of the event, displayed several pieces, the most striking of which was “Anonymous.” It depicted a naked Asian woman with her eyes blacked out by a solid bar. It seemed to effectively deal with the difficulties inherent in defining oneself as Asian or Asian American. The exposed nature of the drawing opened it to many interpretations.
“It could mean anything,” Gopilan said.
Coinciding with the theme of defining oneself, Theodora Fan ’08 presented “All Asians do NOT Look Alike.” Only half done, it depicted the headshot of about 150 Wesleyan students of Asian descent. The bottom half remained black in anticipation of more faces.
“I wanted to see the faces of all the Asians and Asian Americans on campus,” Fan said of her motivation. “There were a lot I had never seen.”
Fan’s piece lent a feeling of togetherness to the Asian/Asian American community. The snapshots created a mosaic that evoked thoughts about how Asians are classified in today’s culture.
The gallery runs until April 30.
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