Racist microaggressions happen to people every day, but GGWash’s Board Chair Tracy Hadden Loh reflects on how a particular incident forced her to connect the dots of her past with the long legacy of racial insensitivity towards Asian Americans in the region and beyond.
“Leaning more into my heritage keeps me rooted and reminds me that we are all deeply connected, and how we treat each other, and how we show up deeply matters.”
Credit Yvonne Boose
Bounsay Pipathsouk crafts images while sitting on a porcelain, water-filled object. It’s not typical, but his toilet just happens to be one of the fixtures in his creative space. He said his bathroom is the perfect studio because its window lets in amazing light.
“And it s so bright in there. It s not big,” he added. “I m not so proud of that to work in the bathtub [and] sit on my toilet seat, but you have to do whatever you have [to do].”
Bounsay Pipathsouk drawing Grace Kelly.
Credit https://bounsaypipathsouk.com/about
This Laotian charcoal artist discovered his love for drawing at eight years old. He said the only art supplies his family could afford back then were paper and pencil. His teacher told him that a pencil was just as good as any other drawing utensil, so Pipathsouk stuck with it.
To celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we’re shining the spotlight on a few of the talented AAPI writers and artists working for DC today.