I was an editorial intern for KQED’s arts and culture desk, where I wrote features about zine fests, indie comics creators, tucked away community spaces, local exhibitions and activations that tethered San Francisco to diaspora art across the sea, and other rich stitches part of the region’s diverse, eclectic arts fabric. For more stories, visit my profile!
“A Pomegranate Goes on a Cosmic Journey in Yasmeen Abedifard’s New Book” KQED, Sept. 2024
Upon waking in a garden-like void, a disoriented pomegranate named Anar and a woman named Guli question their existence: Who are they? What is their purpose? Suddenly, a pair of divine hands plucks them from their quiet panic and launches them through a journey — one in which they are born and reborn, their souls interlinked but their relationship ever-changing. From cycle to cycle, Anar and Guli shape-shift, taking on different physical forms as they amalgamate and coalesce, inflicting the sharpness of their hate, anger, desire, hunger and shame onto one another.
The two perform the ceaseless and sometimes futile yearning for transformation in Oakland-based artist Yasmeen Abedifard’s new comic collection, When to Pick a Pomegranate (out Sept. 25 via Silver Sprocket). In seven short comics that follow the plant life cycle, Anar and Guli’s iterations begin as a seed before evolving through propagation and bursting with ripeness until they inevitably rot. As they repeat the process over and over, they experience a Punnett square of change: endless outcomes in which their autonomy and sense of self is tested and morphed.
“SF Youth Explore Themes of Home, Identity at Generation Chinatown Exhibition” KQED, June 2023
On a Friday evening, laughter and conversation fill the air as crowds wait in a narrow alleyway outside community art space 41 Ross. Fresh tamales are passed out as people eagerly line up to see the new exhibition inside — one that centers the passions, anxieties and explorations of seven San Francisco high school students.
RISE: A Youth Art Exhibition opened June 9 to an outpouring of support from community members. The event was the culminating showcase of the Chinese Culture Center’s inaugural youth residency, Generation Chinatown, a three-month program that provides its high school-age residents workshops, artist visits and tours across local arts organizations and spaces. The goal: to empower young artists to develop artmaking skills centered in community and social change, and to explore their art styles, backgrounds and identities.
“At SOMArts, ‘Jade Wave Rising’ Is a Love Letter to AAPI Women” KQED, May 2023
When I was growing up, my grandmother’s wrist was always adorned with a thick jade bracelet, its smooth, cool-green surface prominent against her skin. At some point, my mother followed suit, and the jade became a permanent extension of her body as well. A symbol of protection, jade has come to represent legacy, strength and good fortune across many Asian American and Pacific Islander cultures. While these themes remain consistent, their presence shifts and metamorphosizes alongside the transformation of new generations.
The dynamic nature of the jade, AAPI heritage and the expansiveness of womanhood are all reflected in Jade Wave Rising: Portraits of Power, a new exhibit on view at SOMArts Cultural Center through May 21. Curator and artist Yeu Q Nguyen questions the concept of power in the representation of AAPI women — particularly, how sticky, elusive and vast it can really be. Power is subjective and takes shape in various forms: tender and vulnerable, subversive and brash, self-contained and participatory. The exhibit is angled through the lens of 20 artists, all of whom offer their own individual responses to power.
“At 13, Drummer Yoyoka Soma Speaks the Universal Language of Rock ‘n’ Roll” KQED, Mar. 2023
When drummer Yoyoka Soma first rocketed into internet stardom in 2018, millions swarmed to her videos, proclaiming her the next big star in rock ‘n’ roll. Soma, then an elementary school student living in Hokkaido, Japan, seemed to already possess musical sensibilities some adults spend their whole lives training for.
Watching her was hypnotic: Music seemed to take over her entire body. Each hit of the cymbal appeared to electrify her limbs, powering the next succession of passionate and coordinated movements. Her expressions bounced from playful to focused, but never strained. It looked impossibly easy for her — even at age 7.
For as long as she can remember, drums have provided the musician an oasis from stress, frustration and unease. “If I have nerves, I sit at the drums and it’s gone,” says Soma, now 13, in a recent interview at her current home in Oakland. “I don’t know why but …they disappear once I sit at my drum set.”
“Migrant Women Will March With Flags of Resilience in SF’s Chinese New Year Parade” KQED, Jan. 2023
In preparation for her latest endeavor, Bay Area artist Christine Wong Yap had to brush up on her self-described “terrible” Spanish. She knew she was about to embark upon something ambitious: a trilingual community-based project that would push her to engage with strangers about the difficult subjects of mental health and migration. Over a year of extensive planning led to Yap’s How I Keep Looking Up, a public art action that centers 16 Chinese and Latinx migrant women’s resounding stories of struggle and hope.
For the past three months, Yap led workshops at 41 Ross and the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, where the women learned phrases from each other’s languages, shared meaningful anecdotes and designed flags that focus on their resilience. Many based their illustrations on comforting symbols like butterflies, birds and flowers to represent what they treasure most: their families, communities and personal journeys.
“In Asian Art Museum’s Cyberpunk Exhibition, an Ancient Poet Navigates the Future” KQED, Nov. 2022
During China’s formative and tumultuous Warring States period — a time when various regions fought for territory and political power, from around 475 BCE to 221 BCE — the disillusioned and aging poet Qu Yuan decided to end his life in the Miluo river. In his new exhibition Warring States Cyberpunk, opening Nov. 18 at the Asian Art Museum, visual artist and animator Kongkee creates an alternative futuristic reality wherein Qu Yuan emerges and is granted a second chance.
As the poet readjusts to bright, jarring sounds and sights, museum-goers are invited into a similarly overwhelming space, drenched in flashy neon light. Floating projections, optical illusions and sound installations meld past and future, nostalgia and fantasy.
“I’m trying to find a way to deconstruct your senses, to push you to rediscover yourself a little bit more,” says Kongkee. Now based in London, the artist grew up in Hong Kong, where tradition and modernity intersect, both contradicting and coexisting with one another. In 2013, he began to incorporate futurism and sci-fi into his comic series, Mi Luo Virtual, to explore how history can be reinvented — a journey that would eventually culminate in this exhibition.
“At Bay Area Queer Zine Fest, Grown-Up Punks Lift Up a New Generation” KQED, Nov. 2022
Since 2017, the Bay Area Queer Zine Fest (BAQZF) has been a gathering space for self-proclaimed weirdos, punks and outcasts to exchange handmade art and find community.
For many, zines are a particularly liberating medium: Whether photocopied and stapled or screen-printed and bound, these self-made booklets can contain the most intimate recesses of a zinester’s mind. There’s a rush of adrenaline as creators and readers meet over folding tables and chat about their nerdiest passions. Once an artist parts ways with a zine, they go home with the satisfaction of knowing that in the corner of someone’s room exists a small, tangible piece of them.
The BAQZF returns Nov. 12-19 with its first array of in-person programming since the pandemic started. For organizers, this year is about continuing to amplify queer and trans artists of color while uplifting a younger generation of zine makers. As more young people get acquainted with this long-standing medium, the punks who are now grown up are leading an effort to support, mentor and learn from these new voices.
“‘Simple Interactions’ Bridges the Sounds of Hong Kong and SF’s Chinatown at 41 Ross” KQED, Oct. 2022
Hidden within one of San Francisco Chinatown’s many narrow alleyways, 41 Ross is a small creative oasis that hosts interactive artist residencies and community programs. From now through Oct. 31, the studio is inviting visitors to tinker with various handcrafted sound devices, listen to ambient sound transported from Hong Kong, and explore self-guided sound tours based on stories submitted by Chinatown residents — all created by current 41 Ross’ resident artists, the Hong Kong-based Andio Lai, Hoi-yu Tsang and soundpocket.
Soundpocket program leaders Mandy Chan and Vanessa Lai have long been fascinated with the ways sound is replicated and transformed across the world. On their walks around the neighborhood, they listened to the rush of cable cars on Powell and Kearny Streets, along with the high voices of hawkers selling produce on Stockton Street — all reminiscent of the sounds of trams and street markets in their native Hong Kong. Turning corners, they could hear the shuffling of mahjong tiles and the chatter of elderly residents echoing from nearby parks. “And usually you cannot see them — you can only hear the sound,” says Lai. “That’s what interests us. It’s actually the same in Hong Kong.”
“The Quiet Star Behind Just One Cookbook, the Internet’s Favorite Japanese Recipe Blog” KQED, Oct. 2022
At first glance, Namiko “Nami” Hirasawa Chen is like any other friendly neighborhood mother. Her cheeks are flushed and crinkled with a smile, and her home is warm and open, smelling of fresh soap and whatever is cooking in the kitchen. Dressed in a loose gray shirt and dark blue apron wrapped neatly around her waist, she scurries back and forth between you and the kitchen, the pitter-patter of her bare feet across the wood floor ever present. Each time, she returns with a new snack and refreshment in hand.
As Nami steps up onto a small stool in front of the stove to poke at slivers of ginger cooking in sesame oil, she’s preparing a meal that will not only feed her family of four — but also her online audience of five million readers.
“Now Entering the 143rd Dimension: the Bay Area’s Beloved BIPOC Punk Festival Returns” KQED, Aug. 2022
From the outside, The Lab doesn’t appear especially vibrant. It’s located within an unassuming brick building in the Mission District. But on Friday evening, the experimental art and performance space will house one of the Bay Area’s most anticipated DIY punk shows of the summer: the 143rd Dimension.
The in-person, three-day festival returns Aug. 12–14 following a two-year break—its last iteration was entirely virtual—to center a lineup of queer Black and Brown performers, musicians and DJs. More than two dozen artists are scheduled to screen their films, perform live sets and showcase new work.
Previously known as The Universe is Lit, the festival began in 2017 as a means to provide a safe and affirming environment for Black and Brown DIY artists to commune and celebrate each other’s existence. But Shawna Shawnté, the last remaining organizer from the festival’s original leadership, thinks of the 143rd Dimension as more than a breeding ground for DIY talent. To Shawnté, it’s an evolving entity, moving towards liberation and resisting the flattening of BIPOC identity and artistry.