Home Cooking curated by John Yau: Group Exhibition of Artists of Asian Descent

Examining issues including the Asian diaspora, anti-Asian hate, memory, family and connection, Home Cooking disables the stereotype of Asian art as a monolith. Questions of consumption, communion and assimilation – all forms of digestion – are reflected in the artworks, each around the central theme of food.

The exhibition brings a stylistically diverse group of artists together as a representation of the wide range of contemporary artists of Asian descent working in the United States today. In addition to responding to the rise in anti-Asian American violence, the show is also a response to the long history of the invisibility experienced by Asian American artists in the art world.

“This exhibition to me is like a Chinese family dinner where adult children come together from near and far to congregate at their childhood home to eat a scrumptious meal, drink copiously, reminisce about the past, catch up on gossip and maybe engage in some disagreements. The food is just an excuse for this reunion! My gallery was founded to amplify minority voices so being able to work with John Yau is a real honor. If this exhibition could have an impact on how the mainstream sees the Asian American community and breaking stereotypes, we have in a small way achieved something meaningful.” - LaiSun Keane

Food and eating helps to define the Asian diaspora experience globally. As John Yau asks in his curatorial statement, “Isn’t eating a certain food a way to connect to one’s culture, continue a tradition, remember a world that no longer exists, and be transported to a moment tinged with nostalgia and filled with melancholia, while living in a country that regards you as an “outsider?”