FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 3, 2024
Library, Arts & Culture Media: Maryl Fleisher
Email: MFleisher@GlendaleCA.gov
Phone: (818) 937-7806
City Media Contact: Stephanie Mkhlian
Email: SMkhlian@GlendaleCA.gov
Phone: (818) 550-4424
(BE)LONGING: ASIAN DIASPORIC CROSSINGS FEATURES SEVEN ASIAN ARTISTS AT REFLECTSPACE GALLERY OPENS ON JULY 27, 2024
GLENDALE, CA -Glendale Library, Arts & Culture and ReflectSpace Gallery are pleased to present (Be)Longing: Asian Diasporic Crossings, an exhibition that delves into the multi-generational afterlives of war and displacement and East-West Asian diasporic placemaking through maps, sculptures, photography, archives, video, and layered materiality. It features artists from Los Angeles, Korea, and China.
Anchored by the work of Los Angeles-based artists Annette Miae Kim and Kyong Boon Oh, (Be)Longing asks us to consider how diasporic histories and spaces are created and narrated. Can you draw the borders of belonging? How do you make a map of a transnational and borderless community? How much do histories of displacement and war enter the contemporary narrative of a community? What is the relationship of a diasporic community to its indigenous lands and history? Kim and Oh have family in both South Korea and North Korea, and these fraught familial histories brings a personal and poignant dimension to their work. They query and challenge our preconceptions about diasporas and borders through maps, archives, sculpture, and tactile materiality.
Four artists from Korea and China—Sun Siran, Xia Yan, Gil Woong Kim, and Donah Lee—meditate their diasporic journeys and relationship to homelands with newly commissioned video work. Los Angeles-based contemporary ceramicist Jennifer Cheh reflects on her diasporic present by reaching back into traditional Korean forms.
All seven artists in the exhibition grapple with their diasporic histories and present-day and strive to articulate their own sense of being and belonging.
Artists in (Be)Longing: Annette Miae Kim, Kyong Boon Oh, Sun Siran, Xia Yan, Gil Woong Kim, Donah Lee, and Jennifer Cheh. It is curated by Monica Hye Yeon Jun and Ara & Anahid Oshagan.
(Be)Longing: Asian Diasporic Crossings will be on view from July 20 through September 22, 2024 at ReflectSpace Gallery, inside Glendale Central Library located at 222 East Harvard, Glendale, CA, 91205. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, July 27, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM.
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About ReflectSpace
ReflectSpace is curated by Ara and Anahid Oshagan and is an inclusive exhibition gallery designed to explore and reflect on social justice issues, human rights violations and genocides through the arts. Immersive in conception, ReflectSpace is a hybrid space that is both experiential and informative, employing art, technology, and interactive media to reflect on the past and present of Glendale’s communal fabric and interrogate current-day global human rights issues. ReflectSpace is housed in Glendale Central Library and online at ReflectSpace.org.
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About Library, Arts & Culture
Founded in 1907, the Glendale Library, Arts & Culture Department includes eight neighborhood libraries including the Brand Library & Art Center, a regional visual arts and music library and performance venue. Glendale Library Arts & Culture is supported in part through the efforts of the Glendale Library Arts & Culture Trust (GLACT). For more information visit GlendaleLAC.org, or contact Library, Arts & Culture at (818) 548-2021 or via email at LibraryInfo@GlendaleCA.gov
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About the City of Glendale & its Arts and Culture Commission
Known as the “Jewel City,” Glendale is the fourth largest city of Los Angeles County. With a population of more than 200,000, Glendale is a thriving cosmopolitan city that is rich in history, culturally diverse, and offers nearly 50 public parks, and easy access to a municipal airport. It is the home to a vibrant business community, with major companies in healthcare, entertainment, manufacturing, retail, and banking. Its Arts and Culture Commission administers a developer- funded program which is working to transform Glendale into an arts and culture destination for the Southern California region. The mission of the Glendale Arts and Culture Commission is to enrich the human experience, reinforce Glendale’s identity and civic pride through arts and culture, and to recognize the importance of arts to our quality of life and to the local economy. This is accomplished by consciously integrating arts and culture into the daily life of the people of Glendale through urban design, planning, economic development, and education. For more information about the Glendale Arts and Culture Commission see the website: GlendaleArtsandCulture.org.
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