Southeast Conference of the Association for Asian Studies

Public Radio

Artists Talk with LVA: January 20, 2022

The Hite Art Institute presents Asia in Motion, an exhibition of contemporary work from students and faculty of the Hite Art Institute. Presented in Partnership with the 2022 Southeast Conference of the Association for Asian Studies, the artwork in Asia in Motion presents the wide range of media and conceptual topics currently being explored by artists of Asian descent within the Hite Art Institute. 

Students participating in Asia in Motion include Jonathan Loyd (BFA), Xin Chen (MFA), Xuanyi Wang (MFA), Yuran Seo (BFA), Suyun Son (MFA) Shachaf Polakow (MFA) and Jingshuo Yang (MFA).Faculty participating include Ying Kit Chan, Moon-He Baik, Dimitri Kim, and Delin Lai.

In this interview we speak with three of the artists: Examining gender and cultural differences between China and the United States, artist Xuanyi Wang, who was born and raised in China before moving to the U.S., explores conceptions of the self within her artwork and specifically how the self is defined by and altered by one’s personal environment.

The photography of Shachaf Polakow, documents Palestinian resilience and resistance under the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank. As a member of the artist collective ActiveStills, Polakow seeks “to confront the Israeli settler-colonial project in the region of Palestine.”

Jingshuo Yang’s ink and watercolor illustrations for example, examine the connections between spiritual Chinese philosophy and the work of the Western philosopher Nietzsche. Using the butterfly as a symbol of peace and freedom, she juxtaposes the delicate tactility of the butterfly against chaotic and colorful washes of ink to explore ways of balancing the stress of the world with the search for inner tranquility.

Asia in Motion
January 14-February 18, 2022
Cressman Center for Visual Arts