About the exhibition:

This September, millions of people of across the world will celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival by gathering together as family and in community to gaze at the bright full, harvest moon and eat delicious food, including fruit and special moon cakes filled with red bean paste and other sweet treats. It's also a time to remember family and loved ones who are no longer with us. For those who are separated from family members, whether because of distance, geography, or death, it can be a time to reflect and remember.

As Asians living in the United States, the deep traditions of cultural holidays and their meaning are sometimes lost, minimized or re-interpreted. 'Moon Gazing: A Call to Ancestors' is an exhibition designed to bring ancestral heritage into conversation with the present. Inspired by the work of the late painter, printmaker, and professor Chen Lok Lee (1927 - 2020), the exhibit will explore contemporary expressions of identity for Asian and Asian American artists with Philadelphia connections and call into conversation the dynamic tension that underrepresented and marginalized artists with hyphenated identities face in creating art. The exhibit explores the expectations of what is considered an authentic representation of Asian art, who Asian and Asian American artists get to be, and what they get to create based on the limitations or boundaries that they face in the field.

This fully immersive and multi-sensory experience will feature soundscapes that capture the joy and longing in the voices of an Asian American family; the visual works will provide faces, images, and expressions of ancestors long gone and those who have recently passed; newly created visual images that capture the exploration of identity, spiritual longing and the impermanence of all things; and stories told from the voices of those who are making sense and meaning of the distance and gaps that we feel as those separated from our homelands and longing for connection.

Chen Lok Lee, whose selected works are the centerpieces for the exhibit, developed his art over more than 50 years across three continents. Lee’s work will be in conversation with the following artists, bringing the past into the present, and causing us to examine what has or has not moved forward for artists of Asian descent.

Moon Gazing: A Call to Ancestors will be on view in Gallery 2 at Da Vinci Art Alliance starting September 5 until September 22. The opening reception will take place on Saturday, September 7, from 4-7 pm.

ABOUT THE FEATURED ARTISTS

Chen Lok Lee

Born in China in 1927, Lee studied at the Canton Public Art College and Hong Kong University before moving to the United States in 1959. For over 20 years, the Philadelphia-based Asian American artist and educator was a Professor of Printmaking, Silkscreen, and Lithography at Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia. Additionally, he taught Chinese calligraphy and painting classes through the Community College of Philadelphia and other private venues and classes. Read Lee’s extensive bio here: chenlokleeartist.com/about/

Chenlin Cai

Chenlin Cai is a global artist and educator who divides his time between Philadelphia and Beijing. Born in Fujian, China, he relocated to the United States in 2014. The tension caused by navigating life in two very different cultures heavily informs Cai’s practice. Cai is also a prolific mural artist. In 2023, he and his team designed a landmark mural for Philadelphia‘s Chinatown 150th anniversary.
Landscapes are a frequent subject in Cai’s work. He observes that Western scenic paintings often feature realistic depictions of physical and geographic conditions, while Eastern landscape paintings emphasize mood and imaginary narratives by using symbolic imagery.

For Interstellar Landscape, Cai draws inspiration from early footage gathered by the James Webb Telescope, the largest telescope ever placed in space and 100 times more powerful than the Hubble. These images capture the previously concealed Cosmic Cliffs in the Carina Nebula to reveal a never-before-seen landscape. To underscore the Western/Eastern friction that influences all aspects of his life, Cai blends classical oil painting techniques with the artistic language of traditional Chinese ink paintings. The fantastical image that results is a combination of macro- and micro-level observations—panoramic landscapes captured from space and rendered in finely painted details that resemble microscopic organic structures.

Hanzi

Hanzi is a Chinese-American visual artist, illustrator and educator. Born and raised in the US, their art education journey eventually led them to China to complete their MFA, where they engaged with traditional art forms such as ink wash painting and calligraphy, alongside new media. In their art practice, they combine digital and traditional image-making techniques to explore their experiences in the diaspora and what uniquely emerges from that space between cultures. After graduating in the pandemic (remotely in New Jersey), they have since found themselves in Philadelphia, where outside of their own art practice, they are a Teaching Artist at local arts organizations Asian Arts Initiative and Fleisher Art Memorial.

Mel Hsu

Mel Hsu (she/they) is a sonic painter of impossible worlds. As a multi-instrumentalist, Mel often ventures from her classical roots as a cellist into unexpected, cross-disciplinary collaborations. Rooted in Philadelphia, Mel’s restless spirit finds adventure across time zones and oceans as musical and administrative support for others who inspire them. Mel is a spreadsheet nerd, a slow reader, and a shameless instigator of kitchen dance parties.

Gina Kim

Gina Kim is a multidisciplinary artist based in the Philadelphia area. When she is not working with her husband at their woodshop in Kensington, she is creating artwork in her home studio and mothering Miki, her daughter. Through her art practice she is often seeking to capture the mono no aware of any given moment.

James Lee

James Lee, a Korean American ceramicist based in Philadelphia, draws deep inspiration from his cultural heritage, which includes a childhood surrounded by celadon vases and moon jars. His early life immersed in artistry evolved into a modern approach as he combines traditional forms with contemporary design, creating pottery that blends history with innovation.

Initially studying business and management at Temple University and later pursuing a 12-year career in the culinary arts, James shifted his focus during the pandemic. A beginners' ceramics class at YayClay! reignited his passion for creativity, leading him to resign from his chef position and fully embrace pottery. His work, showcased in events like the 2023 and 2024 Small Favors group exhibition, reflects his journey and serves as a bridge between cultures, fostering dialogue and connections among diverse communities through collaborative projects with other Asian American artists.

Michelle Myers

Michelle Myers is an award-winning poet, community activist, and educator. As a founding member of the Asian American female spoken word poetry group Yellow Rage, she was one of the first Asian American women to appear on HBO’s Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry. Michelle’s TEDx Talk “Let Hearts Love. Let Hearts Live” debuted on the TEDx YouTube Channel in December 2023. Most recently, Michelle received a 2024 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for her middle-grade-novel-in-progress Talk Me a Story About Moon Rabbit. As an educator, she also was presented with the 2024 Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award and the Octavius V. Catto Legacy Award for Advocacy by the Community College of Philadelphia. Finally, Michelle hosts a podcast called Mind Your Margins, which is produced by her daughter, Myong.

Winnie Sidharta

Winnie Sidharta is a Chinese Indonesian painter based in Queens, New York. Sidharta works with handmade paper, raw pigments, and sculptural substrates to create her body of work that investigates collective cultural experience. Her collage, painting, drawing, and site-specific installation consider themes of assimilation, immigration, and how the parallel experiences inform each other.
Her vibrant collages have the effect of lush foliage, extending a legacy of craftswomen and complex recollections of time, memory, and identity out from her layered canvasses. Most recently, Winnie Sidharta's work in Delft tiles and Longevity tiles series allow the mutable, living quality of the painted image to carry emotive scenes of generational post-colonial oral history.

Sidharta has exhibited in galleries and museums internationally, from Indonesia to China and across the United States, in California, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York. She studied Visual Communication Design in Indonesia and Oil Painting in Beijing, China. In 2010, she received her MFA in Painting and Drawing from The Ohio State University and later taught there before settling in New York City in 2014.

Other special works included by

Hanalee Akiyama

Hanalee Akiyama is a 13-year-old student at Friends Select School in Center City, Philadelphia. She is the granddaughter of the late artist and printmaker, Chen Lok Lee. She has been painting, drawing, and dabbling in the arts since she learned how to hold a colored pencil as a toddler. She has received training from Friends Select School, Fleisher Art Memorial, University City Arts League, Asian Arts Initiative, and Moore College of Art and Design’s Youth Arts Workshop.

Joon Thomas

Joon Thomas is an independent artist, designer and calligrapher. Joon is owner of Palmstone Studio, one of the founders of the Vox Populi artists cooperative in Philadelphia, and a founder and current member of the Sweetwater Print Cooperative in Gainesville, Florida. Joon is on the faculty of the Academy for Five Element Acupuncture, teaching the History of Chinese Medicine, Chinese Calligraphy and Qigong. Joon graduated from high school in Tehran, Iran, and came to the US to study at history at Haverford College (HC ‘81) and Chinese language at the University of Pennsylvania.

After completing a fine arts degree in printmaking at University of the Arts (PCA ‘87) Joon apprenticed as an edition printer and studied painting with artist and master lithographer Chen Lok Lee. Joon also studied painting with Yao Youxin and Weng Rulan; and bookbinding with Don and Pam Rash. More recently Joon has had the opportunity to study with master calligrapher Ou Wenwei.

Joon Thomas is the recipient of a New Forms Florida NEA grant, and has twice been Artist in Residence at centers in Bangalore, India. Joon exhibits regularly, is a conference presenter and teaches classes and workshops at museums, art centers, libraries and universities. Joon produces commissioned artwork for clients worldwide. Joon Thomas and partner Bethany Bechtel have three adult children and live in Gainesville, Florida.

Kumaji “Harry” Nakatsugawa (1883 - 1966)

Kumaji Nakatsugawa was a first-generation Japanese immigrant who was the survivor of the World War II Japanese American incarceration camps between 1943 and 1945. Kumaji and his family were in "Amache" located in Granada, Colorado. Kumaji Nakatsugawa created hand-carved wooden 2D pieces in the spirit of “gaman”, a Japanese term to describe the action of enduring painful experiences. He was a tailor by profession, but to pass the time away while incarcerated, began crafting hand-carved art. 

About the Curator

Romana Lee-Akiyama

Romana Lee-Akiyama is a global cross-sector leader at the intersection of social change, equity, community well-being, and the arts and culture. She is the founding director and curator of the Chen Lok Lee Legacy Project, which she established in March 2021 as a homage to her late father, a pioneering Asian immigrant printmaker, painter and professor. The Chen Lok Lee Legacy Project archives, preserves and promotes Lee’s works on paper, his migration story and his journey as an artist, serving as an inspiration to the next generation of artists.

Since launching the Chen Lok Lee Legacy Project, Romana has curated four exhibits in Philadelphia, centering themes of immigration, belonging, anti-Asian hate and violence, and what it means to create “home” for marginalized populations. In 2021, with initial seed funding from the Sachs Program for Arts Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania, Romana was able to successful launch the project, and ultimately curated EXCLUDED/INCLUSION, a year-long exhibit, at Penn’s Annenberg Center.

Growing up with two artists as parents, Romana was discouraged from pursuing a career in the arts. Instead, she established herself as a social worker, nonprofit professional, and public servant. At this juncture in her career, she is aligning her deep and wide experiences in multiple sectors to elevate the arts and push the boundaries of who gets to shape our mainstream narratives and stories.

ABOUT The Michelle Angela Ortiz Track

This fellowship provides an opportunity for one artist/curator exploring international identities and personal narratives to curate a show in the Da Vinci Art Alliance gallery space. Artists in this fellowship track are challenged to push their exhibitions beyond white box gallery spaces, engaging with local communities to examine, explore and challenge Euro-centric narratives to bring us closer together while uplifting artists of color. The Michelle Angela Ortiz Fellow will work alongside DVAA's Exhibitions and Programming Director to oversee, advise, and install the exhibition.

Named for Michelle Angela Ortiz and her 20 years of work using her art to represent people and communities whose histories are often lost or co-opted. This fellowship track is for a Philadelphia based, emerging artist/curator to develop an exhibition that explores and challenges who is in charge of the narrative and why?