#CIDLoveLetters - Past — Digital Wing Luke
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 #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


 Love Letters


Comics

A comic on resiliency by Monyee Chau


Public Installations

Senninbari Shrine, 2018-2019

Red rope, community sourced ema, Molotow markers, approx. 120’ wide x 6” deep 

Red knotted ropes refer to the garments that incarcerated Japanese American women stitched for men fighting in segregated units during WWII. These garlands are draped with hand-written ema (wooden plaques) containing wishes for the future by more than 150 people that the artist, Erin Shigaki, met at public events. This piece honors Erin’s community, the many ways they’ve survived and thrived, and the lifeblood that connects us all. It also offers a blessing and sense of protection from the hate and discrimination that continue to plague the United States.  

Installation by Erin Shigaki


Zines

A zine by the Asian American Feminist Collective (AAFC) & Bluestockings NYC. AAFC is featured in our latest exhibit Hear Us Rise.

“We are made of communities with deep collective knowledge on how to care for each other and the earth around us. Together, we can survive and build interdependent communities of resistance.”

Click to view the full zine!


Gratitude

We are so grateful for the people who have sent us their love letters to the Chinatown-International District. We hope that, as you look through them, you will be imbued with hope, love, and a feeling of home.


 Video & Animation

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 ...

“Springtime in Hing Hay Park”

Artists: Owen Xia & Brian Park

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.

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

“Resilience”

Artist: Trung Pham

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. 

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

“Marshmallow” / “Joey & the Blowys”

Artist: Taili Wu 

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 Statement  

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). 

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 commu...

“Animation”

Artist: Hut

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.

“Love Letters to Chinatown”

Artist: Cheryll Leo Gwin

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


 Community Art

We have so much respect for the people in the Community who are raising their voices and telling their stories. Below are some pieces that local artists have been gracious enough to allow us to share — listen to their stories and be inspired to create, and do more.


Express Love to the C-ID

#CIDLOVELETTERS

As the Chinatown-International District struggles with the racism, stigmatization, and economic crisis caused by COVID-19, now, more than ever, our stories and lived experiences as Asian Pacific Americans must be visible, amplified, and not left behind on the road to recovery.

We invite the Community to share their thoughts, feelings, and dreams during this critical time through art — drawings, song, poetry, love letters, vlogs, animations — whatever form you are best able to express yourself. These pieces will be collected and shared in a digital exhibition as part of the Wing Luke Museum’s Resilience Campaign.