Alice Ming Wai Jim | Photo: Concordia University
The idea for the work group stems from a meeting with Diana Taylor — founding director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, the organization behind the Encuentro.
Taylor had heard about Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas, a new journal Jim is launching with Alexandra Chang, curator of special projects and director of global arts programs at New York University’s Asian/Pacific/American Institute.
“Diana and her team invited me and Alex for a brainstorming meeting to discuss the development of an Asian-Americas component to the Hemi project, given the prominence and sheer size of these various communities,” Jim says.
As she explains, scholars have recently begun looking more seriously at Asian communities in the Americas.
“They’re recognizing the importance of taking a hemispheric, transnational approach that encompasses the connected, overlapping and yet culturally specific experiences of diverse diasporic communities across the so-called American continent.”
Jim and the workgroup’s co-organizers — Lok Siu, an associate professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and Beatrice Glow, a New York City-based artist — have high hopes for the initiative.
“I’m anticipating rigorous and productive meetings about the many converging art and social movements and cultural activism of Asian diasporic communities across the Americas over the course of the entire event.”
Heather Igloliorte | Photo: Anne-Renée Hotte