AAPI artists bring personal experiences and unique concepts to their artwork

(FOX40.COM) — They may be celebrated all together during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, but all of the nationalities that fall under that umbrella don’t speak the same language, unable to communicate with each other in their native tongues.

Throughout millennia, art has been a universal language among humans, drawing in people of all kinds with the curvature wrought into a piece of iron, the image that emerges from a block of granite, the message in a brush stroke.

It is no different in our time and a unique partnership is counting on that to speak volumes about beauty and cultural integrity later this month.

“Painting in my studio practice is very sacred to me. It’s a way for me to express myself,”  said Franceska Gamez. “I definitely grew up as a more quiet, introverted child, and so, painting and art itself gave me the language I needed to express myself. Now that I paint murals, I’m also able to amplify messages that I really care about on a bigger scale out in public, out for the community.”

“Painting has honestly been a lifesaver for me.”

With each graceful application of acrylic inside her Sacramento studio, Gamez creates something with perpetuity and purpose — something very different than what she felt coming to this country as a child.

“….[M]y family and I immigrated here when I was just five years old,” Gamez said. “And you know that alone, there’s many feelings that I have around that experience that I get to dive into with my work.”

The loneliness and isolation of not knowing the language and not comfortably fitting into any community play into the sacred work she fits in when not tackling someone else’s vision in a commissioned piece.

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It’s in that sacred work when she’s just doing something for herself that’s not commissioned that Gamez feels more of her history, her personal imprint and her culture comes out.

“I’m at a point in my life where I’m really just trying to find more healing and understanding of my own identity,” she said.

In making psychological space for her identity in her creations, she and her partner have made physical space for it as well, opening the 1810 Gallery in Sacramento.

“…[T]o have community, that’s really how I got my start it’s like… meeting mentors here in Sacramento,” Gamez said.

It’s a space where artists like Shawntay Gorman can grow, giving voice to what is plainly visible but what many refuse to see.

“I just wanted to bring some kind of like Black and Filipino representation to Sailor Moon just so girls like me and my nieces could look at that and think it’s a dope piece that represents them,” Gorman shared.

Just like it was important for Gorman to put that representation in front of guests at a past Art Mix at the Crocker Museum, it weaves its way into almost everything she does because of what she didn’t have for so long.

“Me being Black and Filipino— I did not know any other Black and Filipino people besides my brother until I was in college,” she reveals. “And he’s lighter than me. So you know, in Asian culture, there is some colorism so you know, I experienced that a little bit growing up. Then my mom moved us to Roseville for high school, so that was a culture shock.”

As both of these artists make space for concepts that don’t always find a home in Sacramento automatically.

“There’s a lot of gatekeeping here in Sacramento,” Gorman said.

The state’s biggest political stage will become one for painting as Gorman, Gamez and six others bring all of the capital city into their art with a live painting session during this year’s version of the Night Market.

It’s an event hosted annually by the Sacramento Asian-Pacific Chamber of Commerce.

“There’s definitely a moment of ‘oh my God… there’s a lot of people watching me right now,’” Gamez said with a laugh.

This new feature is all happening in the wake of a moment many found no humor in this year in the local AAPI arts world.

Folks say they still feel bruised by the mural effort organized by Wide Open Walls.

The festival didn’t feature any AAPI artists and some asserted one offering in Little Saigon was an inaccurate representation of Vietnamese culture.

While some might guess that this month’s live painting session at the Night Market is in response to all that, it’s actually an idea Gamez has been working on the broad strokes of for years.

“I’d been to the night markets before and I do infinitely feel like the missing puzzle piece was showcasing local artists,” she said.

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