Miko Lee, Our Asian American Activist Timeline
Augmented Reality: Mark Hellar and Kaori Furusawa
Our Asian American Activist Timeline
Click on Near-Field Communication (NFC) cards placed throughout exhibition to learn more
Miko Lee in collaboration with Mark Hellar and Kaori Furusawa present Our Asian American Activist Timeline, an augmented reality (AR) installation that underscores key moments in Asian American history which have been overlooked, forgotten or what scholar Helen Zia refers to as “missing in history (MIH)”. By way of inclusion, Miko Lee aims to shift, expand and rewrite Asian American history to commemorate and celebrate the Asian Americans who have fought for equality, social justice and liberation. Activists highlighted range from historic figures to contemporary advocates such as Grace Lee Boggs, Helen Zia, Maria Legarda, Yuri Kochiyama, among others. Mark Hellar and Kaori Furusawa create an interactive augmented reality installation utilizing near-field communication (NFC) technology to present the Asian American Activist Timeline.
Reflection Wall: This Story Inspires Me To…
Walking Stories invites viewers to contemplate the power that narratives hold in society. After experiencing the vast array of both personal and collective narratives in the exhibition, artist Miko Lee asks visitors to reflect on how these stories will stay with them.
To engage with the work, take a string, tie one end to a story peg, and weave the string through the pegs according to one’s personal reflections. The image created from the collection of strings becomes a physical manifestation of how narratives shape our lives.
First Dragon and Descendants
During the course of the Covid lockdown, working on self care to deal with family trauma, Miko Lee thought about the legacy of being a fifth-generation Chinese American. Miko discovered a faded photo of her great, great grandfather from family immigration papers from 1892, with scrawled marks that read, “3 visible scars on both sides of face.” Inspired by this imagery, Miko began outlining his face and embroidered his imagined portrait. With scars on both sides of face, Miko pictured her great, great grandfather as the Monkey King, traveling across the world, bravely and mischievously facing many adversities.
Comparable to the the way in which the Monkey King had pulled out his hair to create many more monkeys in his own image, Miko used family photos to embody more of her ancestors on silk: a great grandfather who build the railroads, an auntie who died in the hand laundry, a grandma who made soy sauce for San Francisco Chinatown, a great grandpa who mined for gold, a grandma who integrated Burlingame and ran a restaurant, a dad, professor and minister who marched with Dr. King, a mom who was a community organizer. Miko’s family genealogy covers over 33 generations: beginning with “First Dragon” in 837 AD, who settled in Flower Country, with a cover that reads: “Tracing Afar Cautious Forever.” Woven into delicate diaphanous silk, Miko weaves together the threads and intersections of her contemporary narrative into her family history. By stitching together her past, she attempts to make sense of her future.
About Miko Lee
Miko Lee, Director of Programs for AACRE, (she/her) Miko Lee is an activist, storyteller and educator. She believes in the power of story to amplify voices. Miko is lead producer of APEX Express on KPFA Radio focused around AAPI activists and artists. She is also on the National Advisory Committee of Teaching Artists Guild. Miko’s career has been rooted in the nonprofit world, first as a theatre actor, director and writer and then as an artistic director and as an arts education leader. Miko was executive director of Youth in Arts for over a decade and prior to that was Director of Arts and Public Education at East Bay Center for the Performing Arts. Miko is an artsEquity BIPOC leader and serves on California’s Special Education + Arts Working Group and the Public Will Committee of CREATE CA. Miko’s extensive background in theatre includes working on productions at Berkeley, Seattle and South Coast Rep, NY’s Public Theatre, Boston’s Huntington theatre, Mark Taper Forum and many others. Miko served as Artistic Director and company member of Theatre of Yugen for many years.