When: May 17-19, 2024

Where: Wildfruit Projects, 4704 Virginia Avenue, St. Louis, MO, 63111

Events

• Friday, May 17th- Gallery Opening | 7pm-9pm
• Saturday, May 18th- Open Mic Reading | 12pm-6pm
• Sunday, May 19th- Artists’ Panel Discussion | 10am-4:30pm

In St. Louis, Asians have described feeling “invisible” in a region that grapples with a conspicuous Black-white divide but also the challenges created by immigration patterns that are outpacing local infrastructure and support. According to the 2020 census, the AAPI community grew 37% in the last decade, adding 22,000 Asians to our 14-county region. Yet we still are a minority that too often feels only superficially viewed and considered, for example through the lens of false narratives perpetuated by film and media.

In response, the St. Louis Japanese American Citizens League and St. Louis Pan Asian Collective present: InVISIBLE: A Reclaiming of the Asian Gaze, a multi-day, multicultural and multigenerational showcase of art, a creative expression workshop (in March), and an accompanying booklet of written and digital expressions. This program is conceived to uplift the perspectives and voices of the AAPI community in the greater St. Louis region. InVISIBLE also provides opportunities for St. Louis AAPI residents to share their culture and experiences and to come together to create connections and engender pride around shared heritage, history, and identity. 

It is supported in part as a Washington University in St. Louis Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity Arts & Culture Community Grant. The CRE2 Arts & Culture Community Grant aims to continue and build on the work foregrounded by the Divided City Initiative with the generous support of the Mellon Foundation. This special opportunity is presented in partnership with The Center for the Humanities & The Office for Socially Engaged Practice.