MURAL

[LeaJade]

Supposed to do a mural on one of the school walls. Lately I have been uninspired. I want to take this opp. to raise awareness of Asian Americans EXISTING, heh, in a way that's on the edge. I want to have text in this piece. I have already done a piece on Vincent Chin and Cecilia Zhang. I want this piece to be thought provoking. I want it to withstand time, and still have meaning in 10 years. This is a public piece, and IMO a great chance educate students on Asian American issues.

A bit of inspiration would be great! Please reply with quotes, ideas, etc...

[B the student]

might i suggest focusing your mural on breaking media stereotypes of AAs?

i know that sounds kinda vague and i do have a more concrete idea of it but i think it would do you better to think about it on your own and see if you can't come up with something in your own mind's eye, considering you'll be the one creating the piece.

btw, did you post ur piece on Cecilia Zhang? I don't seem to recall that one.

[xian]

Supposed to do a mural on one of the school walls. Lately I have been uninspired. I want to take this opp. to raise awareness of Asian Americans EXISTING, heh, in a way that's on the edge. I want to have text in this piece. I have already done a piece on Vincent Chin and Cecilia Zhang. I want this piece to be thought provoking. I want it to withstand time, and still have meaning in 10 years. This is a public piece, and IMO a great chance educate students on Asian American issues.

A bit of inspiration would be great! Please reply with quotes, ideas, etc...

Both of your previous pieces are needed to educate people about injustices against individual Asian Americans. But in both cases, the Asian Americans were powerless to fight back--they were killed... (Of course in the Chin case, the power came from the general community)

How about a mural about a general atrocity suffered by the Asian American community that affected a great deal of us, but also we overcame to some degree?

Angel Island would be one example.
American Concentration camps would be another.

If you need specific focal points, you could focus on the mother who killed herself in Angel Island after she was (wrongly) denied entry into the country (there's a photo of her in Iris Chang's book "The Chinese in America") but also have a contrasting image of any of the descendants of those of us who successfully passed through all of the racism and illtreatment at Angel Island.

That's just an example though. Do what feels right to you and if you need help on research for an idea of your, please feel free to ask.


Otherwise, I love B's idea--media analysis for racial images is an issue that will affect every student (and teacher and administrator) at your school.

[LeaJade]

Thanks for the ideas so far.

Xian, you're probably right. I think that I should focus on something that we've overcome. I like that idea. Projecting the role of JUST the victim gets tiring to see.

Thanks again.