This feature focuses on Twin Cities Asian American artists + educators perspectives, identities, political labor, Anti-Blackness, Anti-Asianness and the ongoing Uprising in our communities. Learn and listen to the many ways in which these women of color carry their work into creative, personal and communal spaces. Join us for another 45 minute conversation and collaborative session with Chitra Vairavan.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS + EDUCATORS
Anita Chikkatur (she/her/hers) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Studies at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota. Her research and teaching interests include student and teacher perspectives on issues of diversity and difference in educational institutions. She is currently working with youth, parents, and educators on a participatory action research project in Faribault, Minnesota.

Current work:
She collaborates on two public scholarship projects: a co-authored blog with Adriana Estill about campus politics and a podcast about books with Adriana Estill, Crystal Moten, and Todd Lawrence. She is also a member of the Minnesota Chapter of the Education Liberation Network, which is focused on educational justice.

Pao Houa Her is a visual artist living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. She works across multiple genres and technologies of photography to address Hmong identity and related notions of desire and belonging within the Hmong American community.

Artist website:
http://www.paohouaher.com/

Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay is a Lao writer. Her plays have been presented by the Smithsonian APAC and Theater Mu. Awards include a Sally Award, Jerome Foundation, Knight Foundation, Playwrights’ Center, Loft Literary Center, Forecast Public Art, and elsewhere. She’s named a Mellon Foundation National Playwright in Residence at Theater Mu.

Artist website:
www.SaymoukdatheRefugenius.com

Resources mentioned in this talk are linked here.

ABOUT THE SERIES
Chitra Vairavan, artist in a perpetual healing practice and staff at East Side Freedom Library, will talk to other artists of color and indigenous artists about their labor, experience and visions for the future. The artist series is built on consent, awakening and reclamation, as we speak of stories and experiences in our chosen fields that break norms, boxes and ask us to co-create and collaborate our way forward. What are our new ways forward in this time? What are we co-creating? What are we reimagining? We ask each other where we have been, where we are now and where we are heading.

Each conversation is 45 minutes and unscripted to really listen and be present to each other. Join us on the East Side Freedom Library Facebook Page for the artist talks. For any questions about this programming, please reach out to [email protected].

To view our conversation from May 22, 2020 on performance art and creative liberation practices, check out Episode One In Conversation with Gabrielle Civil.

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