LGBTQ+ Column: Fall 2023

Seeing Shared Humanity Through Artworks of AAPI Queer Artists

Column by: Yiwen Wei, Assistant Professor in Art Education, Virginia Commonwealth University

Art teachers can enrich their students’ exploration of shared humanities by introducing artworks created by Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) LGBTQ+ artists. While some queer artists like Frida Kahlo, Andy Warhol, and Kehinde Wiley are often presented to K–12 students, their queerness or queer identity is frequently left unmentioned or concealed. To promote nonpathological portrayals of queer experiences and individuals, I conducted an art project with my college-level students. The project questioned normalizing the absence of queer people in art education and delved into the challenges faced by AAPI queer individuals, including expectations as model minorities while seeking family acceptance within conservative AAPI cultural groups.

The queer experiences of Asian and AAPI people remain largely unfathomable within Western heteronormative society (Huang, 2022). As a lesbian person from Taiwan, where same-sex marriage was legalized in 2019, I became acutely aware of the rarity of AAPI queer representation in U.S. mass media, popular cultures, and daily life. A few examples of AAPI queer representation include the comedy film Saving Face (2004) by Alice Wu, the graphic novel Messy Roots (2022) by Laura Gao, and the Academy Award–winning film Everything Everywhere All at Once by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (2022). Despite the growing exposure, AAPI LGBTQ+ individuals remain relatively inscrutable within mainstream queer communities and dialogues.

The art project aimed to advocate for AAPI queer visibility, foster an empathetic embrace of diversity, and nurture empathy and reflexivity in students. It focused on empathetic reading and analysis of artworks by AAPI queer artists, exploring themes of navigating family traditions in light of queer identities. Students from various racial and ethnic backgrounds expressed different levels of resonation with the underrepresentation and oppression faced by AAPI queer individuals. Minority queer students seemed to relate more deeply to the sense of being underrepresented in mainstream culture and oppressed within conservative family traditions compared to their white queer peers.

As Huang (2022) posits, AAPI queer artists have effectively used minoritarian aesthetic and affective modes of expression to challenge the lack of visibility in social conventions and offer alternative ways of existing in the world. Incorporating works of art by or about AAPI queer people not only acknowledges their existence but also expands the discussion of aesthetics stemming from their diverse ways of being. In conclusion, this article highlights the benefits of introducing artworks by minority queer artists, such as AAPI LGBTQ+ artists, in art education to promote visibility and empathy while challenging underrepresentation and oppression.

The NAEA LGBTQ+ group offers valuable educational resources and encourages collaboration among educators further to promote queer representation, visibility, and inclusion. For more educational resources, please visit: https://naealgbtq.wixsite.com/home

Further, our newly appointed Curriculum Leads, Katy Rickards and Dani Gonzalez, are excited to begin presenting content through our social media channels, website, and members Listserv. If you have not seen our monthly thematic calendar, it’s been posted on our Instagram @naea_lgbtq. August’s theme is Power. We will be posting lesson ideas, inspiring artists, and lots of other great content under that theme. Follow us on social media to stay up-to-date on opportunities to participate by submitting your own lessons. We look forward to collaborating with you soon.

References

Gao, L. (2022). Messy roots: A graphic memoir of a Wuhanese American. Balzer & Bray.

Huang, V. L. (2022). Surface relations: Queer forms of Asian American inscrutability. Duke University Press.

Kwan, D., & Scheinert, D. (Directors). (2022). Everything everywhere all at once [Film]. IAC Films; Gozie AGBO; Year of the Rat; Ley Line Entertainment.

Wu, A. (Director). (2004). Saving face [Film]. Destination Films; Overbrook Entertainment; Forensic Films; GreeneStreet Films.

Yiwen Wei, LGBTQ+ Newsletter Lead

Jess Graff & Tara Rousseau, LGBTQ+ Co-Presidents