Theme: Voting Together

GB (Gia-Bao) Tran, a publishing cartoonist for 20 years, best known for his work Vietnamerica, a memoir of his family’s trauma, tragedy, and triumph as war refugees, will create a digital webcomic that will target the most ethnically diverse and second largest generational demographic in the United States: Gen Z.

Theme: Belonging

Lehuauakea, a Native Hawaiian interdisciplinary artist and kapa maker from Pāpa’ikou, Hawai’i, with a particular focus on the labor-intensive making of kapa (traditional bark cloth), will create a series of 10-12 fine art illustrations and educational posters which include ‘Ōlelo Hawai’i (Native Hawaiian language), develop these into digital posters which will be shared free of charge with educators, and culminate the project with an empowering and inclusive gallery show.

Theme: Voting Together

Kat Evasco, an award-winning writer, theater maker, filmmaker, and cultural strategist, is creating a scripted short comedic film entitled Get Your Tita that tells the story of a Filipino American family coming together for the very first time to review and discuss ballot measures and candidates prior to the upcoming election.

Theme: Belonging

Safwat Saleem, a multidisciplinary artist working to give visibility to Asian American and immigrant narratives, with a focus on cultural loss resulting from assimilation, will create the multimedia project, Anxieties of an Immigrant Father, which includes unique charts that map Safwat’s anxieties as an Asian American and immigrant father, drawings that chart the anxieties contributed by the larger AAPI community, and an audio component about the community’s anxieties going into an election year.

Theme: Solidarity

Sonny K. Mehta, a Houston-based musician and founder of Riyaaz Qawwali who performs folk music rooted in South Asian traditions, will collaborate with Aris Kian Brown to create videos that showcase the shared experiences of Asian American and Black communities; a visually compelling piece of artwork integrating poetry in both English and Urdu/Hindi; and an educational toolkit, facilitating critical conversations about solidarity, anti-Blackness, and allyship.