Self-Portraiture as Self Love
Self-Portraiture as Self-Love was a 2-part event series inviting AANHPI women and non-binary folks in social work, social justice work, community organizing, and political work to make art together, connect, rest, and build community through self portraiture and writing reflections with photographer Mel Taing.
This event was part of Asian American Women Political Initiative (AAWPI) Fellow Sophia Chen’s larger series, Arts and Connection, based on healing, joy, and rest for cultural organizing workers. Attendees took their own self portraits, created collages from the printed self portraits and reflected on self love through conversation, artmaking and writing.
In Part 1, participants took self portraits and had small and large group discussions based off of their reflections on self-love and what it’s like taking up space or being the center of attention. In Part 2, we printed the images taken in Part 1 and asked folx to use the portraits in a collage and love letter written to themselves.
Hosted in the spring of 2023 at the Pao Arts Center in Chinatown.
