About the Exhibition
October 3 - 26th, 2025
Step into a space where identity, heritage, and imagination collide.
Yellownoise celebrates the bold, tender, and unapologetic voices of queer Asian American artists—through prints, zines, handmade goods, and stories that refuse to be erased. Whether you're here to find something beautiful, something healing, or something that speaks to your soul, we’ve got you. Every piece is rooted in lived experience, crafted with love, and meant to spark connection.
Come through, come curious, come as you are.
PRE-ORDER
Agar - A collection by The Starfruit Collective
Pre-order a copy of Agar by the Starfruit Collective today and support our youth program.
The Starfruit Collective is made up of Queer Southeast Asian artists representing Vietnamese, Hmong, Chinese, Filipino and Lao identities. These artists dabble in multiple disciplines of art, from writing, painting to dancing and printmaking. These artists aim to show resilience through their storytelling, protesting colonialism and oppression through their art as well as paying tribute to their cultures through their stories and creativity.
From the mentor Rae Rowe: "A question this group has constantly been circling, has been, how do we bring our full selves to our art? How do we reconcile our Queer and Southeast Asian identities? How can we create in ways that reflect our multi-faceted identity? As we have gone through the process of our creative cohort, I’ve seen this group as they’ve shed their skin, and come out, more ferocious, more tender, shining bright in their ideas. They’ve transformed into artists and creators, who inherently bring their full selves, their full identity, their explorations as Queer and Southeast Asian people to their work. And here are their offerings. Taking up space. Being gorgeously joyful and resilient. Creating new paths that will lead the next generation of Queer Southeast Asian Youth. The snakeskin evidence, our creations, proof we were here. Proof we existed. Proof that we’ve always existed. Proof that we will always exist."
Proceeds will go back to cover the cost of printing the book. After the cost is covered, all extra proceeds will go back to the youths and they can decide whether to donate the funds or use it to support their artistic career.
events
Opening Reception
Friday, October 3rd, 6-9pm
XIA Books, Cafe & Gallery
Join us for the opening of Yellownoise: Where Color Meets Culture: Queer Asian American Art on Friday, October 3, 6-9 PM to help us kick off our Making Waves Creativity Festival presented by The Starfruit Collective (formerly known as the Queer Southeast Asian Creative Circle).
Light food is provided.
meet the artists
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meet the mentors
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The Paper Lantern Project
Gender & Reproductive Justice Organization
Rooted in the frameworks of Gender and Reproductive Justice, we provide a beacon of hope to our AAPI community as we form new narratives through the arts and offering care-centered support through economic and cultural liberation.
Rae Rowe (Writing Mentor)
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Rae Rowe (no pronouns/chanh), is a queer non-binary, gender-fluid, Viet-Am, child of a boat person-refugee, writer, movement worker, creator, and future ghost who uses hir work to explore inherited trauma, liminal spaces, auntie whispers, and connect with community.
Rae is a 2025 Periplus fellow and a 2025-2026 Loft Mentorship Series fellow in creative nonfiction. Rae is also the co-founder of The Paper Lantern Project: An AAPI Gender & Reproductive Justice Mutual Aid Fund and Arts Movement which centers care and creating new narratives around these topics while working towards forming new futures of true liberation. Through this work Rae has created and edited Cut Fruit: Creative Offerings, Stories and Art from Future Ancestors (An Asian American Pacific Islander Gender & Reproductive Justice Anthology) and curated two Queer Asian and Southeast Asian art shows, including Alternate Routes. Rae currently lives on unceded, ancestral lands of the Dakota people in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Sean Lim (Design Mentor)
he / him
Sean Lim 林佳軒 (he/him) is a first-generation Malaysian Chinese American; the eldest child of immigrants, born and raised in Mni Sota Makoce (Minnesota). Sean is a community organizer, artist, and mutual aid practitioner who has spent the past 8 years building community power — from electing historic candidates into office, to passing legislation, and winning monumental issue campaigns. His advocacy centers youth organizing, education, housing, & environmental / climate justice. As a steward of a local Art Collective & studio, his artwork in solidarity with movements helps facilitate rapid response to assist the messaging needs of local organizing efforts, in real time.
Damaly Keo (Graphic Designer)
they/them
Damaly Keo is a multidisciplinary Cambodian American artist based in Minnesota. Born and raised in the Twin Cities, DK is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago, where they cultivated a practice rooted in community engagement and visual storytelling. During their time in Chicago, they worked closely with Asian American and Artist communities— doing creative workshops with Elephant Rebellion Collective, DIY art shows with LoudArts, and advocacy/community engagement work with Asian Americans Advancing Justice–Chicago.
Now based in Minnesota, DK balances their role as an aviation professional with a lifelong creative practice rooted in graphic design, printmaking, and photography.
Their work is heavily influenced by street art and graffiti, Cambodian and Pop culture, and cartoons. Through playful visuals and layered narratives, DK explores themes of queerness and asian identity, memory, and belonging.
TJ Lor (Photographer)
they/them
When I look through the lens, I see more than the surface of the world—I see its soul. Photography, for me, is about preserving a feeling, a story, a moment that might otherwise be forgotten. My work is rooted in presence. I’ve learned to slow down, to notice the details that many overlook, reminding us that beauty exists everywhere if we take the time to look.
I am not simply a photographer, I am a storyteller. My stories are not written in words but in light and shadow. They speak of connection—to the world, to others, to myself. My photographs reflect my heart and my hope that others can also find peace in the stillness I see.