The WOMEN我們 exhibition originated at EMG Gallery in Shanghai. Originally conceived and curated by Abby Chen, WOMEN我們 was the first exhibition in China to explore feminist and queer themes in artworks. Traveling to San Francisco at the Chinese Culture Center, the show expanded to feature artists based in the United States of Chinese descent to emphasize connections across nations (or transnationally).

Indeed, the title of the exhibition is instructive; it is a play on the English–Mandarin homophone meaning “women” and “we.” It succinctly reveals the crux of the exhibition’s curatorial conceit: to examine issues relating to women in China while shifting and stretching the very terms of what the categories of woman and China signify.

The exhibition at Miami Beach Urban Studios not only includes a selection of work from the Shanghai and San Francisco venues, but also a work exploring themes of identity in Miami. It is divided into roughly three sections: one focused on LGBT politics, another on intergenerational feminism, and the third on activist feminism.

—Alpesh Kantilal Patel

Catalog:

View the event related to the project on PechaKucha (20 images / 20 seconds)

PRESENTERS:

Alpesh Kantilal Patel - Curator, WOMEN我們 and Professor of Contemporary Art and Theory, Florida International University

Houston Cypress -  Advocate of two-spirited peoples, founder of Love the Everglades and Miccosukee Society Cultural Ambassador

Robin Haines Merrill - Artist and Missionary from Manila

Neil De La Flor and José A. Villar-Portela - Executive Director/Founder and Program Director, Reading Queer

Sarah Michelle Rupert - Visual Artist and Gallery Director, Girls’ Club

Emery Grant - Director of Community Engagement, Stonewall National Museum and Archives

Daniela Montoya - Master of Arts, Visual Anthropology and Mixed Media Artist