3. Interview with Asianish
An interview with Sara Jimenez, Maia Cruz Palileo, Gabriel de Guzman and Cecile Chong, co-founders of Asianish. Part of our series of interviews with affinity spaces and groups.
Correspondence Archive (CA):
Can you please tell us a bit about your group?
Asianish:
A few of us, including artists Sara Jimenez, Maia Cruz Palileo, Cecile Chong and curator Gabriel de Guzman, were interested in informally sharing and discussing the nuanced complex iterations of Asian/South/Southeast/East Asian/etc identifying individuals in NYC. We are interested in holding space for these “Asian-ish” hybridized identities that sometimes overlap and are also incredibly unique and specific to each individual.
The idea for these gatherings came out of our experience after participating in the NYC Creative Salon in March 2018, around the theme “identity.” That particular discussion was so rich that when it ended, we knew that we needed to do it again because there was a deep desire and an urgency to share intimate, non-white space together, what has come to be called Asian-ish.
We are grateful that this community exists. It seems at the root all of our discussions has been the need and desire to come together to identify the various ways in which we are affected by and wish to fight against the white supremacist structures of power. We hope that this community that we’ve built can continue to grow and recognize each other as resources for growth, strength and wisdom.
CA:
From what I understand your group meets regularly for discussions and presentations. Do you do any other projects like pop-up exhibitions or public facing programming or have plans to do so in the future?
Asianish:
Since March 2018 we met every few months in person and every time we had a different topic of discussion - identity, home, embodiment, community, food, nature. We also had a one day community celebration at the Dedalus Foundation with the Sunset Park community with performances, hands on activities and slide presentations. At the beginning of Covid we started to meet via Zoom, then our meetings became weekly when we felt the urgency to center our discussion around Asian solidarity with Black Lives Matter. In the future we may think about having public facing programming hopefully when we can meet in person.
CA:
Why was it important to you to intentionally form your organization as an affinity group? What specifically did you feel was missing that needed to be addressed by your group?
Asianish:
There were no spaces in the NYC art scene that had a contemporary lens for artists who identify as being in some kind of multiplicity in an Asian identity. We wanted to create a space that was not just for scattered pocket conversations but having it be a community. We felt that it was missing and that was what brought us together.
CA:
What can an affinity group do that a mixed/blended group cannot? What is the unique work that your organization can do?
Asianish:
Our conversations are centered around being POC. We felt the need to create a space for BIPOC to get together in the room and to be able to talk about things in a completely different way. The conversations are able to go in directions that typically in a mixed blended group the discussion can become limited. We recognize the inherent power structures that tend to exist in a room, whether it is intentional, conscious or subconscious. There are power structures and privileges that tend to take up space. Our discussions in a way function to upset this power imbalance. We want to let these conversations exist without the presence of these judgments or opinions which make it harder for BIPOC to express how we feel.
CA:
What are the limitations of an affinity group? Is there something a mixed/blended group can do that an affinity group cannot?
Asianish:
The fact is that mixed/blended groups tend to have more economic power and can raise more money. Because of this system of privilege that exists maybe an affinity group can tap into that privilege. As an affinity group we may not have that much access to privilege versus wealthier mixed/ blended members.
CA:
What has surprised you about being involved in your group? What are some of the unforeseen impacts it has had on you personally and on the community/ies you are serving?
Asianish:
There are many of us (96 participants and we keep growing.) We are surprised that so many are creating this space and how large our community actually is. On one hand we’re tied in together as Asianish, on another hand we’re very mixed and blended. The framework of the questions here could challenge that we do and we do not center around whiteness. Our discussions are about complicating that kind of binary, even though many of us are of partial white descent.
We’re also surprised that at one point we wondered who would be willing to meet and do all the work and planning? But there has been much to talk about and enough people to meet every week. It has been wonderful and surprising of the kind of support that is there.
CA:
How do you view your and your group’s role in relationship to the larger, WSCP art world? For me, assimilation seems both impossible and problematic, while trying to force it to change is exhausting and depressing.
Asianish:
Theaster Gates comes to mind who used the financial capital system and bought a building in Chicago to create opportunities for his community. It is about learning how to work with the existing structures in order to create change.
Recently we’ve had discussions of perhaps not moving towards utopia, but instead being in this inherent contradiction of a system and realizing that big money means blood money. We question how we can navigate within that conflict in an ethical, accountable way. Even if that means naming it and continually participating in a very mindful, collective and active way. Perhaps we can shift our perspectives and attitudes and think that there’s no utopic way or a simple answer. Instead we can see it as a daily struggle to grapple with and continue to have conversations to try to understand and unpack.
In our conversations we also find ourselves sharing with each other about after the trauma of our education system and many of us being in and part of the education system now, and how we’re still surrounded with white supremacy capitalism patriarchy. We’re having a place to come together to share those experiences. A big part of what we want is to create a visual culture that we want to see, one that makes more sense of our experience to our world.
CA:
Shout outs! Who are the groups (contemporary or historical) that you look to for inspiration and that you are excited about?
Asianish:
We admire organizations that support black artists like MOCADA and the Studio Museum, and also organizations that support Latinx and Caribbean artists. In the past there was Godzilla Collective but now besides A4 we don’t see organizations that support Asian or Asianish artists. We admire Asian American Writers’ Workshop, and we love Kundiman!
CA:
How can people support Asianish? Does Asianish have any social media accounts that we can follow?
By being a guest speaker in our meetings. You can follow #asianishsolidarity on IG.
Asianish is a common space for people of Asian descent working in the field of visual art. We acknowledge the multi-racial, multi-ethnic identities shared and honor and respect our intersections. We are interested in holding space for these hybridized identities that sometimes overlap and are also incredibly unique and specific to each individual. By sharing our practices, we intend to deepen our connections individually and collectively so that we may strengthen and support our community within and beyond Asianish.
