Amalia Meyer | March 4, 2024
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Trying to find a meaningful program or club to participate in at Metro can be overwhelming, especially when seeking an opportunity you feel connected to and are genuinely passionate about. For Asian Americans looking for a program along those lines, the “InVISIBLE Showcase” might just be for you: an engaging project that facilitates creativity and encourages cultural representation.
JACL (Japan American Citizens League) and St. Louis Pan Asian Collective partnered to create a new program for Asians to reclaim their identity and share their experience as an Asian American in Saint Louis. Participants are asked to submit up to 3 submissions of art, whether that be a drawing, painting, poem, essay, or other form of expression that explores their identity as an Asian American. Entries are completely free. The art is then put up in an exhibit for viewers to admire! The program includes a workshop before the exhibit targeted for youth and young adults to create pieces expressive of their cultural experience in Saint Louis. Then, the pieces can be submitted to the InVisible Exhibit and Booklet, which is a great opportunity for exposure if you seek to share your artwork. Afterwards, submitted art may be posted on the JACL website with credit to the artist, and pieces are even available to be sold after the exhibit closes.
Even if you aren’t interested in submitting pieces yourself, the showing would be a great outing if you want to learn more about AAPI experiences here in the STL community. It’s completely open to the public over the weekend, so be sure to contribute to their turnout May 17th through May 19th. If you do want to participate, the workshop is on March 9th, and the deadline for the art entries is March 15th.
About the Organizers
The exhibition will be the first showcase of the InVISIBLE Project, marking the debut of the program. Board member of Japanese American Citizens League, Robin Hattori, has helped make this workshop and exhibit come true. The organization is most looking forward to having members of the AAPI community contribute their creative expressions to the exhibit and have a space to share their perspective, no matter their skill level. They started the project with the hope that AAPI individuals would be able to gain visibility in a community that is often focused on a Black/White divide. Although created by JACL and St. Louis Pan Asian Collective, it is presented in part with The Center for the Humanities & The Office for Socially Engaged Practice. About the program, Hattori says,"The InVISIBLE Project is conceived to provide an opportunity for St. Louis AAPI residents to share their culture and experiences and to create connections and engender pride around shared heritage, history, and identity. We are excited to have the Zine Workshop as one avenue to get AAPI teens and young adults involved and hope that the works they produce can be part of the InVISIBLE showcase, which will be held May 17-19 at Wildfruit Project Gallery in Dutchtown."
For more information, click here.
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