Remixing Folklore and Creating New Imaginings
Angela Han invites Millennial and Gen Z artists in the Bay Area to create a new mythology that enacts justice for Asian and Pacific Islander women.
Angela Han is a Chinese American, multidisciplinary creator and curator who builds speculative worlds where women are eternally respected, celebrated, and cherished. In a process she calls “mythmaking”. Han weaves together research on various disciplines including music, herstory, and folklore, with reflections of her own lived experiences to create new narratives that embody her hopes for the future. These stories are brought to life through intricate, multilayered paintings featuring rich lyrical compositions. Her artwork has been exhibited at Arc Studios & Gallery, Bass & Reiner Gallery, International Hotel Manilatown Center, Sanchez Art Center, SOMArts, and Voss Gallery. Han is the recipient of the San Francisco Arts Commission Artist Grant (2021) and California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship (2023). She currently serves on the Board of Directors at the Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA).
Angela Han from Angela Han Art LLC is an alumni and artist in the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center’s (APICC) annual United States of Asian America Festival (USAAF). Her project, “Realms of Courage: Celebrating Asian Women Composers” that amplifies fifteen contemporary composers who identify as Asian women through art inspired by their music and lived experiences, was featured in the 25th Annual United States of Asian America Festival – Generations of Power in 2022.
In 2024, her curated exhibition, “With a Twist: Stories of Her Own” that highlights young Asian and Pacific Islander (API) women artists living and working in the Bay Area, is featured in the 27th Annual United States of Asian America Festival – Be(long)ing Here.” This exhibit featured art inspired by folklore from each of the artists’ cultural roots, but with a twist: Artists have changed the original tales in ways that reimagine what it means to exist, live, and thrive as API women in the United States and beyond.
APICC: Hi Angela! Thank you for sharing with us. Let’s start from the beginning. How did the idea for the exhibition “With A Twist: Stories of Her Own” emerge?
ANGELA HAN: “With a Twist: Stories of Her Own” was born from the acute awareness of the degree in which young Asian and Pacific Islander women artists are represented in Bay Area art exhibitions. [My parameters of “young” for this exhibition are artists who identify as being Millennials and/or Gen Z]. As an Asian woman artist myself (Millennial here!) who has observed, navigated, and participated in the Bay Area art scene. I can say that there is a paucity of opportunities for young API women artists to create and collectively exhibit work that speak to our identities and lived experiences within empowering spaces. To counter this scarcity, I chose to create abundance: Just as one writes the book one wishes to read, I curated “With a Twist: Stories of Her Own” – the exhibition I wish to see!
I can say that there is a paucity of opportunities for young API women artists to create and collectively exhibit work that speak to our identities and lived experiences within empowering spaces. To counter this scarcity, I chose to create abundance: Just as one writes the book one wishes to read, I curated “With a Twist: Stories of Her Own” – the exhibition I wish to see!
APICC: How did this curatorial experience transform you?
ANGELA HAN: It’s been 10 years since I last spearheaded an exhibition, and this decade-long hiatus proved to be a critical “marination” period during which I identified my core values, nurtured multidimensional self-awareness, and established a daily practice of imagining the world I wish to live in. In my artistic practice, I create speculative worlds through art, music, and storytelling that I call “Paradises” – spaces where API women are eternally respected, celebrated, and cherished. This fervent world-building stems from my identity as a “Mythmaker” – someone who weaves together legendary, herstorical and personal narratives to create new stories that reflect the maker’s hopes for the future. These stories are then told and retold to shape the society in which the mythmaker lives. For “With a Twist: Stories of Her Own,” I invited other artists to be mythmakers as well.
APICC: So, what have you learned from inviting artists to remix folklore and create new imaginings?
ANGELA HAN: To say that selecting and inviting artists for “With a Twist: Stories of Her Own” was a dream come true is an understatement. This process was a hard-hitting reminder that curators and arts administrators possess an influential amount of power to shape the futures of underrepresented artists. What strikes me most about the exhibiting artists is that “With a Twist” embodies a first in some way for each of us… be it the first exhibition opportunity for an artist to showcase her work, the first time an artist digs deeper into the folklore of her heritage, or the first chance an artist gets to play with a new artistic medium.
“With a Twist: Stories of Her Own,” is a multifaceted exhibit that merges storytelling and artmaking, and through these creative genres, the artists have immersed themselves more deeply within their cultural roots, explored new dimensions of their identities, and created epic “evolved herstories” that enact justice for Asian & Pacific Islander women. My hope is that these evolved herstories will influence how society perceives and treats API women, combating stereotypes and asserting us as complex, multidimensional, and powerful human beings. I have come to realize that the most impactful exhibitions are curated in a manner that deepens the artists’ relationships with themselves, motivating them to explore uncharted territories of their own identities, abilities, and interests.
I have come to realize that the most impactful exhibitions are curated in a manner that deepens the artists’ relationships with themselves, motivating them to explore uncharted territories of their own identities, abilities, and interests.
To learn more about the curator and artists of "With a Twist: Stories of Her Own," follow them on Instagram at:
Angela Han: @angelahanart
Samara Tana: @2cyberactive
Diana Li: @dianali.art
Nimisha Doongarwal: @nimishart
Diana Chen: @didikino
Theresa Calpotura: @theresacalpotura
Nicki Aquino: @bmoviebaby
Visit www.apiculturalcenter.org for more info and get tickets to our 2024 United States of Asian America Festival running from May - June 2024.