Asian Americans are the fastest-growing demographic group in the U.S., and the question of belonging and identity is more critical than ever among the AAPI community. Over the past few years, we’ve seen an increase in Asian representation in mainstream media, and Asian Americans have also flourished as poets, writers, directors, fashion designers, architects, visual artists and more. The creative offerings of Asian Americans aren’t just accepted, but celebrated.
In Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM), we aim to highlight the history, heritage, and contributions of the community, with the stories from API artists and activists. Keep clicking to read about some of the inspiring leaders in the API community, and how they’ve helped define what it means to be Asian American.
The artist behind the hub's colorful illustrations this year is Loe Lee , an award-winning illustrator, designer, and muralist from New York City who combines whimsical themes with everyday scenes. Having spent her childhood in Chinatown, she continues to partner with local community groups to bring art and aid to the neighborhood.
"I wanted to celebrate the diversity of API cultures that exist in America without grouping them beneath one moniker. As a result, I illustrated different API communities and elements coming together for each scene. This appears most notably in the header image, where I created a unique creature comprised of numerous symbols found in Asian and Pacific Islander art."
"These elements include the hibiscus, mountain ridges and cherry blossoms, sampaguitas and water buffalo horns, elephant tusks and lotuses, and so much more. Ultimately, I wanted to showcase our communities coming together, while at the same time featuring the unique characteristics of the cultures that live here."
Learn about the Abstract Expressionist artist, Bernice Bing , who is finally getting her due. Bing was a leading figure in the San Francisco arts and queer communities, and was deeply influenced by Zen Buddhism and Chinese calligraphy.
Explore Kelly Akashi : Formations at the San José Museum of Art. The LA-born artist is known for her materially hybrid works, combining mediums like photo, glassblowing, bronze casting, and stone carving, creating work that explores her family's internmentment experience.
Find inspiration in reading shortlist
curated by the Asia Art Archive in America
. Read think pieces, conversations, prose, and poetry work that highlight decades of Asian American and Asian Diasporic movement work, and celebrate API women of today, yesterday and the future.
Joining the hub this year, connect with organizations amplifying multi-dimensional AAPI voices and experiences: Asian American Arts Alliance , Asian Arts Initiatives , Kearny Street Workshop , and Welcome to Chinatown . Learn more about their collective work, and how they're building and supporting communities.
The Asian Art Museum contributes to the continuity of art through its role in preserving and researching Asian art and promoting its understanding and appreciation. Our collection offers many diverse stories to be told, and we celebrate these works in Google Arts and Culture.
Throughout our galleries and on this site, we have engaged diverse voices to express their unique perspectives on works in our collection.
These include our own curators as well as artists, educators, collectors,and others who share our dedication to art.
We invite you to use this collection of Asian art masterpieces as an entry point for your own exploration of the many fabulous objects on this site.
This selection provides a broad survey of the breadth and depth of our collection, yet it cannot be comprehensive. Our museum—with more than 18,000 artworks dating from 6,000 years ago to today—is vastly richer than what is represented on these pages.
We hope that the works included here inspire you to investigate the museum through our gallery displays and our online collection.
As artworks are always alive and changing, so too an art collection is a living organism, constantly growing and building on its strengths.
With this selection we present some of the masterworks that are the foundation of our museum.
We hope the selections here will awaken an understanding of the art, culture, and history of Asia and inspire a wider audience to discover the creative expression in works both ancient and modern.
The works you see here are closely linked to the history of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and the many individuals who contributed to its establishment and growth.
The museum opened on June 11, 1966, as a wing of the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park. Its initial collection was donated by Avery Brundage, a Chicago businessman and president of the International Olympic Committee.
In 1969, the museum became an independent entity, and in 1973 the institution—until then known as the Center for Asian Art and Culture—was renamed the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. In 1995, the Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture was established at the museum in recognition of a gift from Silicon Valley entrepreneur Chong-Moon Lee.
The museum collection has grown from Brundage’s donations of 7,700 works to more than 18,000. Today it is the largest museum in the United States devoted exclusively to the arts of Asia
Of course, Asia is not one place. The ideas and ideals expressed in Asian art are countless and diverse, and many have connections to works from other continents. The works shown here explore these links, provoking discovery, debate, and inspiration.
We share this selection of masterpieces as the museum marks a significant episode in our history—a major transformation and expansion of our historic building.
As you explore the myriad artworks on this site, your own thoughts, stories, and collected lists of favorites will add to the rich history of the Asian Art Museum. It is our hope that this glimpse into the museum will inspire ongoing exploration of Asian art through our collections.
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month is celebrated annually in May in the United States to highlight the history, heritage, and contributions of Asian Pacific American communities. Home to 48 countries, Asia is the largest and most populous continent.
Over 20 million people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent live in the United States totaling about 6 percent of the U.S. population, representing a wealth and diversity of cultures and experiences within the United States.
Read on to discover what Asian Pacific American Heritage Month means to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen.
GA&C:
What does it mean to you to be an Asian American? How would you define the term “Asian American”?
Viet:
So to claim being an Asian American gestures at this history of exclusion and of being racially targeted at different times in American history. It’s a way for Asian Americans to turn a negative stigma into something positive - something they can organize themselves around, as the politics or as a culture.
Viet:
Now that being said, I think identities can sometimes trap us, not just racial minorities, but for other kinds of people as well. And that it’s important to have multiple identities because most of us do experience ourselves as different people in different kinds of circumstances.
Viet
: So I’m happy to be called an Asian American, but sometimes I’m a Vietnamese American. Sometimes, I’m an American. An Asian American identity is necessary, but it's not our only option.
GA&C:
The identity “Asian Pacific American” is inclusive of so many different cultures, celebrated together every May. Could you share your thoughts on - individual identities and collective identities?
Viet:
I think that Asian Americans will forever be wavering between a unity of identity, calling ourselves Asian American, and an incoherence of identity, acknowledging that Asian Americans encompass literally dozens of ethnicities and languages, for example.
Viet:
That’s the wonderful thing about the United States, that all these people can be considered American, to rather than simply try to eliminate all those differences and sand over all the rough edges, we should be embracing that. Asian Americans, then, because of their drive, both, to call themselves one thing , but their embrace of all of their differences, is our, in fact, embodiment of what American culture is supposed to be about.
GA&C:
Google Arts & Culture has worked with Center of Asian American Media to bring their collection on the platform for APAHM 2020 - you are featured in their exhibition “Asian American Storytellers” and quoted “I was born in Vietnam but made in America." Could you elaborate on this?
Viet:
I’ve said that I was born In Vietnam but made in America because I think it’s a good description both of myself but also of many other immigrants and refugees who’ve come to this country - born elsewhere, but made here. Made here by American culture, by American politics, by American history.
Viet:
They have made themselves into Asian Americans, a term and a population that didn’t exist before Asian Americans came up with it on their own.
Viet:
The making part is so crucial, because it allows us to think about how we don’t have to settle for what we’ve been given or who we are at any given stage either as individuals or as part of communities.
Viet:
We make new communities, and we can make this country into both a better place and a country that lives up to its ideal.
Want to find out more? Read on to discover the richness and complexity of cultures that make up this community with 12 stories curated by experts, curators, historians, and archivists
from cultural institutions in the U.S. on Google Arts & Culture.
A live view of where the Cleveland Asian Festival is held. The festival is held in Cleveland AsiaTown. The Festival brings between 30 to 40 thousand people to the area every year, bringing economic growth to the city.
#ThisIsCleveland Sign in front of the main stage, a very popular spot for photos.
The Kwan Family Lion Dance Team Dances in the Crowd. The team will also perform all around Cleveland Asiatown during Chinese New Year.
Throughout the years, our volunteers and patrons make the festival what it is. Performing, providing food, or random jobs, the people of the Asian festival help make it a special experience for all.
Painted Statues as provided by Midtown Cleveland, these statues represent the year of the zodiac. Some statues are positioned throughout Asiatown. the dragon represents good luck, strength, health and also the male element Yang.
A great time for photos. The rabbit is the fourth animal in the Chinese zodiac. In the Chinese culture, the rabbit is known to be the luckiest out of all the twelve animals. It symbolizes mercy, elegance, and beauty.
Up Close with the Dragon. It takes a team to pull the dragon throughout the crowd. The dragon represents wisdom, power and wealth.
The OCA Greater Cleveland Dragon Dance Team. Cleveland's own Dragon Dance Team. The Chinese believe that performing the dragon dance during festivals and celebrations drives away evil spirits and ushers in good luck and blessings for the community.
Winners of the Asian Pop Dance Competition at 2019 Cleveland Asian Festival. A popular event at the festival, giving the chance to show the many cultures of pop dance in Asia.
All local businesses located in the Cleveland area, cooked on the spot, ready to be enjoyed by all.
Between the dragon stage and main stage, live performances dazzle the crowd. These performances range from dancing, music, to even the acrobatics shown above. They all express different different Asian Cultures.
Between the dragon stage and main stage, live performances dazzle the crowd. These performances range from dancing, music, to even the acrobatics shown above. They all express different Asian Cultures.
The world market, similarly to the performances, are a great representation of Asian Culture. Local businesses get the opportunity to show off many goods, such as clothes, puppets, and products that represent their diverse cultures.