About the Exhibit
Healing in Solidarity is a collaborative exhibition of Asian and Black artists showcasing their visual works on healing, social justice, and cross-racial allyship. This exhibit strives to inspire and initiate conversations mobilizing Black and Asian communities to continue supporting one another through artistic expressions. Each artist has a unique story to share from navigating their identities as Black/African Heritage, Asian, or interracial to highlighting the racial injustices in their communities to overcoming their own battles.
Student Tour Opportunities
The students will receive an opportunity to meet with 2 - 3 of the artists featured in the exhibit and learn more in depth about their creative works and how it speaks to social justice.
Through these tours, students will learn about the historical and present context of cross racial allyship between Asian & Black communities. They will also learn about the inequities Asian & Black communities continue to face through the creative works featured in the exhibit.
The tour will take place at XIA Gallery & Cafe and is a duration of one hour and 30 minutes. The space can accommodate at most 60 people.
Review the Agenda / Curriculum Outline with brief reference points.
You can contact Npaus Baim to schedule a tour at: npausbaim@aedamn.org
Meet the Artists
Our artists are not only creators or entrepreneurs, but also changemakers who continue to advance cross racial solidarity & relationship building within our communities through their creative work.
Abrianna Brever-Thao
Aybri Creative Studio
Aybri Creative Studio came to life when I fell in love with learning how to weave wall hangings! Inspired by nature and natural fibers, I enjoy playing with different textures, colors, and fibers. Each item is unique and handmade with a lot of love. Aybri Creative Studio expanded product offerings to include fiber packs so that other creative souls and artists can enjoy the fiber arts.
Alex Yang
Alex Yang Art
Alex Yang is a Hmong-American artist based in the Twin Cities, Minnesota who creates digital illustrations exploring themes such as shared experiences, and diaspora within the Hmong community. Some of his most notable works are his “Ladies of the Hmong Diaspora” series depicting the different styles of traditional Hmong clothes. With his artwork, he strives to reconnect with his roots, empower people to embrace their heritage, and invite representation into spaces. If you would like to follow along on his creative journey, you can follow him on all social media @alexyangart.
Annie Chen
Handspun Rainbows
Annie Chen (she/they) is a Minneapolis-based Queer, second generation Taiwanese/Chinese American. A youth worker focused on disparities in race, gender and education, she is a multidisciplinary artist focused mainly on fiber arts. She enjoys exploring the intersections of art and identity through her craft as well as using it as a catalyst for change with other BIPOC artists. When not crafting, she can be found snuggling her dog, Ziggy Stardust, and taking naps.
Anu Biswas
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I am an artist based in Minnesota, and originally from India. After moving to Minnesota, I was quite moved by the Minnesota’s natural beauty. I have since tried to capture the beauty of Minnesota through my landscape paintings and sketches. Apart from landscapes, I also like to paint nudes, still life, and emotional compositions. I have had a chance to showcase my art in galleries in Eagan and Saint Paul, done illustrations for books, and look forward to keep painting and contributing to the burgeoning art culture of Minnesota.
Azania Tripp
Obsidian Pause Wearable Paper Art
Azania Tripp (She/Her), is a Black/ African American, Singaporean Eurasian, pansexual woman who started Obsidian Pause| Wearable Paper Art LLC in 2016. She creates multi-media collage jewelry, fine art, and facilitates jewelry paper collage designing workshops. Whimsical joy is what she hopes people receive when they wear the art.
CRICE
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Connor Rice (CRICE) is a Minneapolis College of Art and Design alumni living in Southside Minneapolis. He gains his inspiration from Hip-Hop as well as history and uses art to document the issues and motifs of pan-Africanist realities. He uses these themes as a lens to view his thoughts and experiences with race, class, and “the American dream.” Authenticity is the driving force in his art. Currently his focus is in projection mapping, screen-printing, and creating environments using those mediums. He has also been experimenting with wheat paste-ups, mural painting, and other forms of public art. Through his experience at MCAD and working for multiple organizations, Connor learned how to set up a wide range of shows and work with an eclectic array of creative makers. He has won multiple grants and awards with organizations such as the Jerome Foundation, the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council and Minnesota State Arts Board. In addition to works in public art, he has curated and assisted on gallery shows at City Wide Artists and Public Functionary. One of his main goals within art is to bridge the gap between the more established art scene and under represented communities of color.
Eh Soe Dwe
Eh Soe
Eh Soe Dwe (Es-Oh) is a first-generation Karen-American illustrator from the Twin Cities in Minnesota. She is a daughter of Karen refugees. Having escaped a civil war in her home country, she comes from humble beginnings. She was taught at a young age the significance of knowledge; to have it and to share it. She studied Psychology, Religion, and Gender Studies, all topics that contribute to her value of mental health, spiritual freedom, and women’s rights. She enjoys working with the youth and believes that the first step to change is education. Currently, she is a M.Ed student at the University of Minnesota, studying Youth Development Leadership. She shares her knowledge through creative teaching and visual storytelling for the youth. Eh Soe currently explores digital artmaking and writes graphic stories shared on her online platform (IG: @ehsoesart). In the past, she illustrated a powerful piece on the Civil Disobedience Movement in Myanmar, titled CDM Ladies. It reached across the world and has been used as a cover photo on Thai News and for a Norwegian podcast. She has sold many copies of the print and has donated a portion of the proceeds to the movement in Myanmar. Recently, Eh Soe collaborated with several artists on murals around Minneapolis. Each mural showcases environmental (in)justice in North and South Minneapolis. Through her visual narratives, Eh Soe captivates emotions that are oftentimes difficult to express in words. Eh Soe’s art can also be described as playful, animated, and colorful. She plans to one day publish a children’s picture book about her Southeast Asian heritage. She wants to educate others about her community and their lived experiences in the form of narrative art so that readers can visually see and learn about a culture that is underrepresented.
Joua Grande
Spirited Films LLC
Joua Lee Grande is a Minneapolis-based filmmaker and community educator whose work highlights marginalized voices and under-told stories. Her work has aired on WORLD Channel and PBS digital and screened in festivals such as PBS Short Film Festival, CAAMFest, L.A. Asian Pacific Film Festival, Qhia Dab Neeg Film Festival and more. Her short documentary On All Fronts received an Honorable Mention for CAAMFest’s Loni Ding Award for Social Justice Documentary. She is currently a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow (2021-23) and was a MediaJustice Network Fellow (2021-22) and Diverse Voices in Docs Fellow (2019). Joua previously worked as an editor at WCCO TV 4 News (CBS Affiliate). She has 10 years working in and with community to support marginalized storytellers, families and youth through organizing and nonprofit work. She designed and led various community art and media education programs at institutions across the Twin Cities metro area including Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Saint Paul Neighborhood Network.
Joua-Chia Lo
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I am an Asian American intersectional feminist artist from Minneapolis MN, now based in Saint Paul, MN. I attended Augsburg University to pursue a major in psychology and minor in studio arts. My work consists of drawings, paintings, and digital works. My artistic genre is a modern-day expressionism discussing themes of identity, race, sexuality, and culture. I specifically focus on how color, shapes, texture, and movement provoke emotional sensations. My passion is creating portraits and landscapes. Creating art has always been a source of healing for me. At a young age, I grasped drawing images from my head onto paper to communicate my own perspective of the world around me. When I couldn’t express myself through words, creating art was the best way for me to show how I felt. My art depicts the vulnerability, compassion and emotional resilience of being a women of color. Through art, I have found love, empowerment, and courage to speak about narratives that aren’t being spoken about. My goal as a visual artist is to continue to create more representations for all human conditions. But emphasis on the complexity of emotional vulnerability within marginalized and intersectional communities. Through discussing these themes in my art, I hope to start new conversations on changes that need to occur in order to process, heal, and move forward as an overall community.
Justice Jones
Out Of Form Art
Justice Jones is an artist, educator and organizer with a BA in K-12 Fine Art Education. Her passion for learning invites her to explore many different mediums. Justice practices community space making, organizing, and activation as an organizer for Community Members for Environmental Justice. She uses foundational elements of fine art to explore and process her experiences and the idea of nature versus nurture as opposed to choice in who we become. Her work on the CMEJ team, as an artist, and through her business, Out Of Form, are informed by these values and beliefs
Kanong Vue
Kanioor
I am 23 years old and was raised in the Hmong community in North Minneapolis. My parents are Lao and Hmong. I have 3 sisters and 3 brothers. Coming from a broken family, we didn’t always know how to communicate to each other. Art allowed us to connect. Drawing is what sparked a bond with my sisters growing up, and a large part of my inspiration comes from them. Art allows me to express my view of life when words fail. I am currently hoping to become a speech pathologist and some of my pieces as an amateur artist are helping to fund my journey.
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Karen Caldwell
Oya Arts
My work explores the beauty and complexity of the African Diaspora through a metamodern lens. I use my academic training as a cultural sociologist to tell stories that delve, shift, manipulate, interrogate, and push the boundaries of identity and examine how they relate to the African diaspora from a feminine perspective. I use negative space and the power of contrast to provoke discussions about the black female experience. I aim to tell a story, raise awareness and create conversations about everyday issues affecting the African Diaspora that are often lost or overlooked. My primary medium is, acrylic on canvas painting calls for the re-centering of the Black woman in everyday consciousness.
Kayla Gant
KaylaKomix
My name is Kayla Gant im a 2D/3D graphic artist and 3D animator trained in Computer Graphics. I'm enthusiastic about creating new art content for entertainment marketing and business needs. I have been creating art for over ten years, emphasizing girls that look like me in happy settings. as an African American young woman, representation is essential for girls that look like me. My goal is to have my art show women of color in their beautiful natural state.
Lucy Owiredu
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Lucy Owiredu is a photographer, writer, and creator. In her conceptual work, she pulls from her upbringing of being raised in a collectivist culture at home and existing in an individualistic one outside. She seeks to create imagery that is felt and heard, communicating voice, identity, and connection.
Maya Washington
Running Water Entertainment, LLC
Maya Washington is an award-winning director, narrative and documentary filmmaker (writer/director/producer), actress, writer, poet, creative director, visualist (photography) and arts educator. She received a BA in Dramatic Arts from the University of Southern California and an MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University. Her background, on stage/camera and behind the scenes, has given her the opportunity to work on everything from public art, live theatre, commercials and print ads, to web series, films and television. Her award-winning film, Through the Banks of the Red Cedar, about her father Vikings Legend Gene Washington and the desegregation of college football aired on the Big Ten Network and is currently available on PBS platforms including PBS Documentaries Channel through Amazon Prime, Comcast, and iTunes. Her memoir, Through the Banks of the Red Cedar: My Father and the Team that Changed the Game, was released in 2022 (Little A) and is a 2023 Finalist for the Minnesota Book Award. The book is available in bookstores, and the audio edition features Maya’s narration. Her award winning-film CLEAR, about a family reconnecting in the aftermath of wrongful conviction is available on the streaming platforms Argo and Kwelitv. As a freelance tv and film director, Maya recently directed episodes of the Fox series The Killer Next Door and History Channel’s I Was There, both from Committee Films, and the PBS Kids series Black SciGirls. Her award-winning narrative short, White Space, (starring ABC Family Switched at Birth’s Ryan Lane) about a deaf performance poet aired on network television and was nominated for a Black Reel Award. Her commercial and brand work includes Best Buy, Target, The National Society of Leadership and Success and others. Maya is dedicated to projects that have a sense of “purpose” in the world, selecting social impact stories that illuminate aspects of the human experience that are untold, rarely seen, or might benefit from new approaches to issues of diversity and inclusion.
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Noi Siratt
DantesInternal
DantesInternal is a Lao and Black artist based in Minneapolis. They work in several mediums including mixed media painting, photography, writing and fabric. Their work seeks to understand the human experience and what it is to be a seemingly finite being in an infinite world. They pull from their diverse cultural background to help guide their work. Buddhist iconography, African Spiritual practice, Lao textiles etc. In more recent work, they have been exploring their relationship with love, community, and femininity.
Pasakura Lee
Pasi
I'm Pasi, a visual artist based in the Twin Cities, MN. Currently finishing my senior year of high school at Perpich Arts Center for Education and just seeking to make the world a little more silly and fun with my illustrations and paintings.
Shakuntala Maheshwari
Shakuntala Design Inc.
As an artist, I find inspiration in my diverse range of experiences and express them through various mediums such as photography, graphic design, ethnic art, painting, and textile art, among others. My art is not bound by specific mediums or techniques, as I believe in creating in the moment and letting my passion guide me.
One of the driving forces behind my art is to reflect my Indian heritage and my current life, blending folk art with graphic design, and traditional styles with modern materials. I often teach and demonstrate traditional techniques like Henna,Rangoli, and Batik, but I enjoy pushing the boundaries and applying these techniques in innovative ways to create unique and contemporary artworks.
Emotions and feelings play a significant role in my artistic process and the themes Iexplore in my art. As a witness to violence, discrimination, and injustices based on color, ethnicity, and gender, I use my art as a means of raising awareness and giving voice to these issues. Art is a powerful tool for healing and activism, allowing me to express my thoughts and feelings when words fall short. Creating art helps me find peace within myself and also empowers me to take action and stand up against injustice.
At times, my art reflects the beauty and joy I see in the world, and I create paintings that spread love, positivity, and joy. Other times, when I am hurting, I use my art as a way to express the pain and frustration I feel about social issues and inequalities, giving voice to my emotions and experiences in my own unique way. Through my art, I find the energy to rise up and be a source of support for others as well.
As I continue my artistic journey, I strive to stay connected to my ethnic background and find ways to bridge the gap between old and new, modern and ancient, preserving my heritage while also pushing the boundaries of artistic expression. My art is a reflection of my inner world, my experiences, and my perspectives. It is a form of storytelling that allows me to communicate, connect, and make a difference. I am committed to using my art as a force for positive change, and I am constantly growing and evolving as an artist, expressing my unique voice and leaving a legacy for future generations.
Xiem Busch-Vuong
Waltherp28
Xiem Busch-Vuong (28, any pronouns) is a Teochew-Vietnamese artist with many other names online. She has been an animator, an illustrator, a sequential artist, a draftsman, a painter, and a collage artist. She sings in the car while wishing she didn’t have a car. She has weekly crises about the state of the world, mortality, and the abstract concept of ancestry.
She is working to learn ways of capitalism so that she may be free from it. As such, she has 4 jobs and no life.
You can e-mail Xiem for inquiries at maixiem@protonmail.com