When SunAh Laybourn founded Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month Memphis in 2023, she knew an art show would always be a part of the annual activities. After all, the 2022 removal, and eventual reinstallation, of photographer Tommy Kha’s Elvis-inspired portrait in the Memphis International Airport was just one of the events that got the University of Memphis professor thinking about Asian-American representation, and, sadly, anti-Asian hate, in Memphis.
For that first AAPI Heritage Month art show, Laybourn chose the title “Asian American in the South.” “That approach for me last year,” she says, “was really just making the statement that Asian Americans are in the shadows, but we’re part of the South, and so I love to be able to see all of the creativity from all the artists. It was really a lot about identity-making.”
This year’s show — “Between Heaven and Earth, We Build Our Home” — is an expansion of that. “The theme of the exhibition is about family and home and ancestry, kind of like how we communicate and pass down knowledge and wisdom and lessons from generation to generation,” says Neena Wang, the show’s curator. “The theme really just came out of the pieces that I [was sent]. Everybody was sending in work about family, about their relatives, about ancestry.”
Participating are Thandi Cai, Sai Clayton, Sharon Havelka, Vivian Havelka, John Lee, Christine Yerie Lee, Huifu Ma, Susan Mah, Lili Nacht, Yangbin Park, Neena Wang, and Yidan Zeng. All are AAPI individuals from Memphis or living in the South, whose art showcases a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, textile, photography, video, and performance.
Wang and Laybourn also point out that “Between Heaven and Earth” marks UrbanArt Commission’s first show by an outside organization. “I think what’s great about having this partnership with UrbanArt is that the show will be on view for a few weeks [through June 19th],” Laybourn says. “Last year was just one night only.”
“Between Heaven and Earth” opens on Saturday, May 25th, with a reception featuring a special performance by the MengCheng Collective (Cai, Nacht, Wang, and Zeng). Nacht and Zeng will also lead a free Raise Your Flag workshop on Sunday, May 26th, 2 to 5 p.m. “They’re going to do a cyanotype flag-making workshop,” Wang says. “The idea is making a flag as a representation of place because the theme of the show is very much about building your own place as an immigrant or as an outsider.” Participants can register in advance at bit.ly/mcraiseflag.
For more information on AAPI Heritage Month Memphis, presented by Google, visit aapiheritagemonthmemphis.com.
“Between Heaven and Earth, We Build Our Home” Opening reception, UrbanArt Commission, 422 North Cleveland, Saturday, May 25, 4-8 p.m.
