Artist Yu-Wen Wu sits at the head of the table ready to address the fellows of the Democracies Redux group with the Kahn Liberal Arts Institute. As an interdisciplinary artist working closely with the leaders of this Kahn group, professor Sujane Wu and professor Payal Banerjee, Wu has spent this year with the Smith community to address anti-Asian hate through art, archives, and storytelling. Her two-part installation, which is part of Smith’s Year on Democracies and was developed in collaboration with students, faculty and staff, will be open to the public beginning April 28th in the Neilson third floor bookcases and at the Kahn Institute.
Based in Boston, Wu weaves community participation into each of her projects and examines themes of displacement, identity and assimilation. Her durational project Leavings/Belongings amplifies the voices of refugees through bundle making, a process familiar to those who must pick up their life’s belongings quickly and flee.
Wu brought Leavings/Belongings to Smith to explore long-standing anti-Asian hate that has been exacerbated due to the pandemic. In collaboration with many student and campus organizations, including the Narratives Project and the Smith College Museum of Art, Wu has designed a two-part project that explores the history of Asian students at Smith and allows students to reflect on their own experiences of being Asian on campus.
Wu holds bundle sessions where individuals can volunteer their stories out loud and create a grouping of fabrics that represents their stories. The bundles are joined together to create a site-specific piece of vigorous color and immensity from the sheer number of stories.
So far, Wu has held six bundle-making workshops where students can speak openly about their experiences and create a bundle to add to the installation.
Ellen Dong ‘22 first got involved with Wu’s project through her adviser, professor Sujane Wu. She participated in the bundle-making workshops and was one of the student research assistants on the second portion of this project. “Being Asian American, and with all the hate during the pandemic, I felt like it was important to use my voice and get involved,” said Dong, describing Wu as “inspirational.”
“Each of the bundles is there for students who don’t have a voice,” says Wu “This project is about democracy, there should be a diversity in the narratives that are amplified.”
The second part of the project involves an archives installation on the third floor of Neilson library with Wu’s accordion books. Dong, along with Rosemary Li ’25, participated as research assistants to bring together documents that tell the history of Asian students at Smith decade by decade. The stories they uncover include ones about Tei Ninomiya ’1910, the first Asian student at Smith, and Julia Chang Lin ’51, artist Maya Lin’s mother. The Breaking Silence Journal ’93, a collection of narratives from Smith students of various backgrounds, was particularly interesting to Li and Dong. “Some of the feelings from the journal are still here on campus today,” said Dong. “We want people to question what more can be done to combat anti-Asian hate on campus.”
As part of the Year on Democracies, Smith is hosting events, discussions and courses that exemplify themes of democracy. The Democracies Redux group explores issues of how democracy can be extended to people in everyday life. Professor Lynne Yamamoto, whose project with Lucretia Knapp explores Potter’s fields says, “Democracy requires paying attention and listening, especially to people and things at the margin.” The opening of Wu’s installation, which will close the Year on Democracies, will offer a durational look into how marginalized voices can be amplified through deep listening and the facilitation of safe spaces for all.
