Try to find a way. Change your life. Do something.

two sided photo print
8.5 x 11″
2021

This piece was created for organized by The Great AAPI Elder Print Off conceptualized and organized by For You Productions (Erika Chong Shuch, Ryan Tacata, & Rowena Richie). Through a partnership with Little Brothers-Friends of the Elderly, they connected Asian American & Pacific Islander artists with AAPI elders in San Francisco facing social isolation—particularly as many have been deeply impacted by the intertwined threats of the pandemic and racist violence. Each artist was tasked with creating a homemade activist poster that amplified their elder’s voice and showcased them in a conceptual portrait.

I wrote the following to describe the piece and my conversations with my elder, BT: “BT was born in Shanghai and lived around the world, including Australia and West Africa, before immigrating to the Bay Area. This portrait of her weaves together threads from her many stories–her pet birds in Shanghai, her love of Chopin and classical country music, her career as a jewelry stylist and salesperson–rendered as coloring book pages in honor of her love of digital paint-by-numbers. BT had to rebuild her social networks after her husband passed and she recovered from long term health challenges that had limited her mobility in the world. She summed up her approach as, “Try to find a way. Change your life. Do something.” That approach led her to take community college classes, join LBFE, and travel extensively to visit family in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and other parts of the globe. It’s an exhortation that I think also feels broadly relevant–whether as a call to reconnect after this period of isolation or to mobilize for justice.”

.pdf of print downloadable here.