It’s Gonna Be

Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (and what a gorgeous day it is in Chicago)! I’ve installed my AAPIHM exhibit at the West Chicago Avenue Branch of Chicago Public Library in the neighborhood of Austin! It’s a handful of photos I took on my phone while traveling along the Silk Road in Western China, and it’ll be on view throughout May. (Fitting that my own Journey to the West is chronicled in a westside community.) More information about the exhibit celebrating APAHM can be found here, and you can view the rest of the photos here and on Instagram. P.S. The security guard there’s a sweetheart and kept coming over to look at my art while I was installing and pointed out the places he wants to travel to (hint: the places in my photos.)

Chicago Public Library's news about my AAPIHM exhibit.

Another way to celebrate: Be sure to check out my ongoing series, ABC in HK, in which I interview Chinese Americans currently living in Hong Kong and amplify their stories, struggles, triumphs, and dreams. (And if you’d like to participate, email me! The call for voices is here.)

More news, including a couple announcements (one of which is an opportunity):

Midwest artists: Line Dot Editions is having another open call group show, Hot Fun in the Summertime, and I’ll be guest judging on their panel again! The application deadline will be June 2, the opening reception will be July 19, and the exhibition will close August 16. I’ll update once the gallery officially posts the call; stay tuned!

Thanks for asking me to shoot my portrait, Miguel Guzman! And for the pizza. And for putting up with how awkward I am in front of a camera. (I suffer from the affliction Resting Serious Face, the lesser known relative of Resting Bitch Face.)

I received a notification that someone left a comment in a 7-year-old post. Love it. Throwback to the early days of Artists on the Lam, when I was [more of] a shit-stirrer [than I am now] (ah, youth): “A Call for a Global Art History / It’s not all about you, dude”.

My “Kites in Uptown” photo is one of the winners for Block Club Chicago’s postcard contest! (Not bad considering I only posted about my nomination on social media once and not at all on this blog since I was traveling in Hong Kong at the time.) Thank you to all who voted and thank you, Block Club Chi! Some of those who backed their Kickstarter will be getting my photo in the mail.

My paternal grandma
in the Hong Kong Railway Museum in Tai Po.

Lastly: I went on my annual Hong Kong trip last month as a VIP at Art Basel, Art Central, and Asia Contemporary Art Show (and had a free spur-of-the-moment portrait taken there), and you can look through my photos (be sure to read the captions) here and here. My previous blog post chronicles my visit with self-taught artist Fung Ming Chip in his studio, one of many art highlights. Of course, my HK trips are never always about art; they’re about family. And snacks. And dogs. Lots and lots of adorable dogs. (I mean, why else would one travel?)