TalkingPoint - Laura Kina Aronson
On Monday, the Art Center welcomed Laura Kina Aronson as its featured artist. Laura is a Chicago-based artist, educator and Asian American activist. An Assistant Professor of Art, Media and Design and the Program Director of Asian American Studies at DePaul University, her work is focused on the fluidity of cultural difference, in the slipperiness of identity and what we think of as “race” and how that intersects with ethnicity, religion, class, and gender.
The discussion took root here, and lots was thrown out on the table. Who is an ethnic artist? How does one define themselves in this regard? Does identifying as an ethnic artist “ghettoize” that artist? If you speak about ethnicity in your art, are you also an activist? The crowd was crowd and we enjoyed a very spirited conversation. What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
