ABOUT THE PROJECT

The collective work and resilience of Asian American communities have long been vital threads running through the fabric of America. Our vast and diverse communities possess rich histories of resisting and organizing for civil and human rights, intertwining with one another to weave beautiful, expansive tapestries of collaboration and cross-solidarity. Threads of Justice seeks to elaborate upon these tapestries, as twelve local artists envision what the future of art and activism can look like as we move forward together. Just as we have seen Asian American communities adapt and grow from remnant patches into multi-faceted networks thriving and striving, Threads of Justice visualizes our collective resilience through reimagining how justice and belonging can pull inspiration from the past while transforming both the present and the future.

As early as the 1800s, the first Asians immigrated to Georgia as Chinese laborers hired to expand the Augusta Canal. Upon completion, several of the Chinese laborers remained in Georgia, opening grocery stores and laundry services. Subsequently, Asian American communities have continued to build thriving businesses and innovative opportunities that strengthen and empower our families, neighborhoods, and beyond. In the past two decades, we have seen unprecedented growth in Georgia. Our population has more than doubled. This growing presence was harnessed in the elections of 2020, during which Asian American organizing and engagement, in solidarity with other communities of color, played a vital role.

Our communities continue to reveal that we have what it takes to build power and to create change. We have overcome anti-Asian discrimination, scapegoating, and racism in many forms–from Chinese Exclusion to Japanese incarceration, and most recently, the rise in anti-Asian violence in the midst of the pandemic. We have never relented in reinventing and redefining an existence that materializes new ways of living and connecting with one another, while honoring who has come before us and looking toward who is to follow us. Throughout our vibrant and complex histories, we display the capacity to evolve from and beyond the past and present to fashion and weave a future that includes every Thread and holds all of our stories, while leaving space for the stories that remain to be told.

THE ART