S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Jade Hyneman. On today's show , the founder of AAPI emerging artist Tom's Cafe talks about her approach to performing. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. All throughout Asian American , Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month , we've been celebrating the trailblazers who make San Diego one of those creative forces is Helm Sophie. She's a Vietnamese American artist and curator. She also founded the AAPI Emerging Artist Fellowship , which supports the work and visibility of the Asian and Pacific Islander creatives. Humza joins me now in studio. Welcome to the show.
S2: Thank you so much. It's an honor.
S1: So glad to have you here. So now you take in , uh , you take an interdisciplinary approach to art with a focus on movement and the body.
S2: And for me , I see performance art as using the body , space , time , the audience as the medium. But in my practice , I offer something called expanded performance. I wonder how the body can move beyond the usual stage or place. But what about the screen ? What about pulling in copper formers ? What about the environment we live on , the land we live on as co performers. So seeing that if we have a life that is quite on screen most of the day , We are noticing we are all performing in some sort of capacity. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. Now , one idea that's really at the core of your art is repatriation.
S2: Essentially , it is restoring reciprocal relationships. It could be through ceremony. It could be through ritual. But it's a way of guiding us back to an ancestral expression. I use this process as a way of returning my body to the land. And in doing so , I wonder how the mundane shapes my making. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. Now talk more about that. I mean , how do themes of ancestral connection and identity show up in your work ? Very interesting.
S2: Well , I am a daughter of a nail salon worker of a love and war child. And so my work is so inspired by feminine labor economies , and I'm constantly thinking about how feminine bodies are mediated or consumed or pushed to market marginalization. And because of that , I wonder what happens when the feminine body gets to surrender on land , when she gets to rest , to be in pleasure , to be in sovereignty of her body ? What shows up in that magic ? And I feel right now , in times of such modern contradiction , when we see a body in rest , it reflects back this need for us to do the same. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. And you , you originally grew up in Los Angeles right.
S2: 818 baby.
S1: And tell me more about your upbringing.
S2: And that really propelled me into using my body as an instrument , a conduit. I consecrate my body to my work as an act of prayer , and I strongly believe that right now , artists create for prayer.
S1:
S2: I graduated in the Visual Arts department in 2014. I studied abroad in South Korea and in France as well. And I've had this really intense on again , off again relationship with San Diego for the last ten years , but for the last , since 2019 , I've been here really in devotion to my practice , the practice of animism. Hmm.
S1: Hmm.
S2: When getting to know someone , the first question to ask is , what ocean did you grow up by ? And I'm a being who grew up on the Pacific Ocean , but staying in San Diego , the coastlines , it's my heart , my soul. I am there three four times a week and these coastlines have become part of my work. It's really interesting when you mediate the body , but then you also mediate an environment , and then folks are like , wow , that's the place I live. Maybe it changes in a way. Maybe it distorts through the screen or through a video or through a film. Interesting.
S1: Interesting. I mean , you mentioned , you know , animism , um , earlier.
S2: There is such a unstable binary between nature and technology right now. Right. In the age of AI.
S1:
S2: I think defining animism would be a really powerful notion. It's this philosophy and practice of acknowledging the spirit of everything and the inanimate and the animate. I grew up in a Buddhist household , cleaning our ancestral altar every week , and so having a connection to something greater has always been a part of my life. But when integrating that into my practice , I want my works to reflect that society is moving through this spiritual amnesia , this sense of forgetting who we are , the land that we live on , the people we come from. And if art can help us remember that , then maybe we can propel to a sort of futurism.
S1: And something you're very intentional about is showing how different identities intersect to like specifically queer , transgender and Asian-American identity. How do you explore that in your art ? Hmm.
S2: Gosh. As someone who's queer and trans and Vietnamese , but also with French blood , there's so many different DNA portals that I can go into. I have my queer trans lineage , the complex lineages of trans women before me who have paved the way for me to sit right here and use my voice and express myself to you all. But then I also have the Vietnamese women in my lineage who are constantly reminding me of the privilege of being alive in America.
S1: Well , you founded the The Emerging Artist Fellowship through Viet Voices , which is a local nonprofit.
S2: Based on Audrey Lorde's philosophy of uses of the erotic as a way of understanding the intelligence of our body and our art. More than flesh , more than sexuality. But it's a way of reclaiming aliveness within this era of amnesia. Mhm.
S1: You know , you know , we're speaking amid , you know , these looming cuts to the city's arts budget. What are your thoughts on the landscape for local artists today. Artists.
S2: Artists. Stay in your studio and continue making work. Because as artists , we are also organizers. We are also activists , and our art moves through the lens of protest. Right ? Praying is radical. Creating is radical. Even with budget cuts , we will continue to produce moments for visibility because even without funding , we still have digital systems to express ourselves. We can still gather and organize each other.
S1: And you've really been creating those spaces for visibility. And I'm just curious , what are the continued challenges for newer AAPI artists today ? Hmm.
S2: I feel like there are grand politics to visibility , especially in the intersections of Asian city. I find it often that there is a pigeonholing or a fetishism of AAPI identities or queer trans identities being extracted , and how do we own our story and also allow our art to speak not just to our intersection , but to everyone ? Hmm.
S1:
S2: I get to be on the organizational side and understand the bureaucracy of art. But then I also get to be the artist and kind of have that power switched , um , experience , which is so fascinating to me. But I am still learning too. I feel pioneering performances are a new media and different expanded practices. San Diego is going to sustain the art ecosystem here.
S1:
S2: We are opening the first contemporary art exhibition at a reason to survive that is all ages. Why do we dis include children and mothers and parents from this experience ? And if we can all inherit art in this accessible way as an intentional way of gathering , then perhaps things are changing. This isn't a exclusive club anymore. Um. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. The fellowship is also an example of how you're building community with artist. Right.
S2: It's as if you're gathering at the river to talk about life , to weave , to craft , just like our ancestors did. We met somewhere and we found connection. We removed loneliness from our nervous system , and we found a belonging. And these simple elements of life have essentially been stolen from us. And now we get to reclaim it through art. Art making as a container , not just a practice , but a way of living together.
S1: In the last minute we have here. You know , it sounds to me like joy is an important part of your practice.
S2: Keeping my heart open. Making sure that anyone I get to meet in that day is a synchronicity of love , the medium of synchronicity. Meaning this is happening for a reason. This is a sign. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Wow. Well , I mean , this has been just a very interesting conversation. So great to have you here. I've been speaking with artist and curator Hamsa Fay. The opening showcase for the latest cohort of the AAPI Emerging Artist Fellowship will take place July 11th. So thank you so very much.
S2: Thank you.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman.
S3: Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
