Join us in commemorating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month with a captivating event in conjunction with our ongoing exhibit, “Excluded/Inclusion: The Work of Chen Lok Lee.”
Monday, May 1, 2023
5:30 pm
The Arts Lounge at the Annenberg Center
3680 Walnut St.
University of Pennsylvania
Featuring Curator Romana Lee-Akiyama, with Joon Thomas,
Kaitlyn Francisco Nu ’25, and Jessica Sui E ’24.
Step into the world of the late Chen Lok Lee, a multidisciplinary artist who transversed cultural norms and expectations to become a well-respected and beloved professor, printmaker and painter based in Philadelphia.
To kick off the event, Joon Thomas, a longtime apprentice and friend of Chen Lok Lee, will lead a live painting demonstration. Following the demo, Romana Lee-Akiyama, the Founding Director of the Chen Lok Lee Legacy Project, and exhibition coordinator, will host an engaging panel discussion with University of Pennsylvania students and activists Kaitlyn Francisco, a sophomore studying Nursing, and Jessica Sui, a junior studying Mechanical Engineering. Together, they’ll delve into the unique challenges that Asian Americans with hyphenated identities face and explore strategies for creating a sense of belonging and “home.”
This event is free and open to the public. We hope you can join us to engage in a dialogue about Lee’s work and discover how artists of today can benefit from his approach while we explore the similarities and differences between prints and paintings.
We will also be releasing a limited edition copy of the exhibit publication, which includes documentation of the exhibition and an essay by Lee’s former student, longtime apprentice, and friend, Joon Thomas.
This discussion will be held in person and is being organized in conjunction with the exhibition Excluded/Inclusion: The Work of Chen Lok Lee, currently on view at the Arts Lounge at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.
Registration is requested prior to arrival but not required.
Deep gratitude to our exhibition and event sponsors: Sachs Program for Arts Innovation and the Pan Asian American Community House at the University of Pennsylvania.
