An A/P/A Voices: Public Memory Project Event
Presented by the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU.
Co-sponsored by the NYU Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive, New York Center for Global Asia, NYU Center for the Study of Gender & Sexuality, and Monument Lab.
In Spring 2020, the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU developed A/P/A Voices: A COVID-19 Public Memory Project in collaboration with scholars, artists, and organizers Tomie Arai, Lena Sze, Vivian Truong, and Diane Wong and the NYU Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive. This university-community partnership aims to document the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Asian/Pacific/Americans, and the organizing, mutual aid, and other forms of community care efforts that emerged at the intersection of the resulting public health and economic crises, and a national racial reckoning and movement for Black lives. Thus far, over thirty virtual interviews have been conducted with A/P/A essential workers, students, artists, and community organizers, and dozens of digital artifacts (e.g. flyers, zines, short films, photographs, and more) have been donated by individuals and organizations.
As a way to reflect on the project and the diverse forms of care that A/P/A communities have participated in and established during the pandemic, the A/P/A Institute at NYU presents On Community Care: Documenting A/P/A Voices During COVID-19.
The virtual program will feature remarks about oral history and archiving from Crystal Baik (University of California, Riverside) and Shannon O’Neill (NYU Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives); reflections from A/P/A Voices contributors Lisa Fu (California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative; narrator), Mike Keo (#IAmNotAVirus; artifact donor and narrator), and Loubna Qutami (University of California, Los Angeles; interviewer); screenings of the short films Back to Work by Alexander Catedral (filmmaker; artifact donor) and 100 Miles Apart by Garveaux Sibulboro (filmmaker; artifact donor) that capture the impact of COVID-19 on Filipinx healthcare workers and their families; a panel discussion on community care efforts from Queens to Madison to Seattle with Moumita Ahmed (Queens Mutual Aid Network; narrator), Monyee Chau (artist and activist; artifact donor and narrator), and Kabzuag Vaj (Freedom, Inc.; narrator). The program will end with a reading by Taiyo Na (writer and educator; artifact donor).