#CIDLoveLetters
Our hearts are full with the warm reception and heartfelt submissions we received from all of you. While we hope you will continue to send love letters to the Chinatown-International District for us to share, we felt that the words and feelings from these artists shouldn’t be held back. Enjoy art, learn from each other, support each other. We are stronger together.
Love to the C-ID, from all of us.
Painting & Illustration
Video & Animation
Artist Bios
Brian Park is a multidisciplinary artist and active community Chinatown-International District community member. Throughout his life, Brian has been an animator, a visual artist, a poet, a programmer, and a member of Seattle Asian American Film Festival. Purportedly, he also brews amazing makgeulli! Owen Xia is a guitarist and musician who moved to Chinatown-International District in 2017 after spending so much of his childhood there. His band, Armature, is a self-professed “Anime Soundtrack Math Rock” (ASMR) band that attempts to marry music to the sense of yearning present in visual art and animation. His favorite restaurant in Chinatown in Seven Stars Pepper. Owen and Brian met playing Super Smash Bros. Melee in college and they worked together at Tableau Software for several years before attempting to collaborate at all.
Artist Statement
With COVID-19 clearing out C-ID even before the stay at home order, there’s an odd sense of yearning for days we wish we could have experienced along with a sense of mourning for the springtime whose bloom went unnoticed. “Springtime in Hing Hay Park” is a collaboration between Chinatown-International District community members Brian Park (animation) and Owen Xia (music). Even though our submission will never replace dim sum Sundays, the SAAFF summer cinema nights, or karaoke at Bush Garden, we hope that it can transport you to Hing Hay Park how we remember it - ping pong elders and all.
Artist Statement
During this pandemic, a lot of us younger people have been so concerned about our elders, especially their jobs and health. In my experiences, the C-ID community has more intergenerational bonds and discussion than many other communities in Seattle. A lot of us on the younger side feel a strong responsibility and desire to carry on the work of our elders, who often are eager to share their stories and encourage and support us. A canyon seems kind of random to draw, but a lot of times intergenerational gaps feel that vast. But if you’re in the C-ID regularly, you can go to Hing Hay, the Wing Luke, or pretty much anywhere and run into an elder who you know or who will gladly meet you. That’s one of the things I really cherish and miss.
Artist Statement
Time likes to play head games with me and I find myself immersed in parallel worlds of opposites. The games of opposites include a world worth of differences; differences not only in culture, but also in politics, religion, justice, gender, and every other aspect of the human condition. Over the past decade I’ve collected oral histories from Chinese women in China and the US who were young adults during times of revolution: Civil Rights and the Women’s revolution in the US, and the Cultural Revolution in China. It was a decade of change in the 1960’s and 70’s in two countries with similar yet different cultures. I have interpreted and retold these stories through my multi-media paintings, prints, and sculptures. Their stories are both unique yet carry universal experiences that still resonate and relevant today. "Opposites” attract my fascination. The juxtaposition of various opposing human emotions and conditions are my work. More about the artist at: leo-gwin.com
Artist Bio
Taili Wu is a New York based artist with a passion for playful design and tactile illustration. Born in the countryside of Taiwan, she grew up being chased by roosters, playing in corn mills, and admiring life-size trucks and excavators. Her work is rooted in her love and observation of animals and nature. This gives a unique personality and humor to her character design and animation. Taili’s work, sparks imagination, curiosity, and smiles (or a good laugh).
Artist Bio
Trung Pham is an artist and educator based in Seattle, Washington. He was born in Vietnam. His family immigrated to the United States in 1990. He received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from UCLA (2000). He earned an MFA in drawing and painting at the Pratt Institute in New York, NY (2006). He received his MDiv and STL in Theological Aesthetics from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, CA (2012). Pham’s immigrant experience has profoundly influenced his artistic practice. He has been awarded residencies at Fuller Theological Institute, WA, Grunewald Guild, WA. Pham is currently a member of the advisory committee of George Tsutakawa Art Gallery at the Wing Luke Museum, Seattle, WA and an associate professor in the Art and Art History Department at Seattle University.
Artist Statement
How do we embrace our adversity, tragedy, trauma and find strength and courage during the time of challenges? Finding strength and courage during the challenging times depends on the inner spirit of an individual. My drawing brings viewers to look at the frontal view of an Asian who is wearing a mask and take notice to the blink of this person. The unexpected blinks provide not only a window to the spirit of the person but also allow viewers to think about the meaning of these blinks.
