A six-panel, canvas mural produced by eight student artists was unveiled today with the the University of Florida Asian Pacific Islander American Affairs office in Reitz Union.
More than 40 guests welcomed the new artwork that depicts Asian-American historical scenes regarding both national and local events.
According to Jack Nguyen, director of APIA Affairs, each panel matches a layout such as academics, gatherings, histories, professional presence, stereotypes and solidarity.
Work to the mural began in summer and you will be displayed inside APIA office, in the Multicultural and variety department.
“We were going to ensure we now have things inside the space that were, one, made by the scholars,” he stated, “but even be reflective with the histories of UF too.”
He said before he found APIA, a cubicle had posters donated because of the Smithsonian Museum. He was quoted saying that however the posters depicted Asian-American history, it had not been comprehensive. He was quoted saying there was many experiences that had been omitted whilst others that have been highlighted.
“When we feel about the identity to be Asian, consider some of the specific, respective ethnic identities that folks consider?” he was quoted saying. “First, that’s Chinese, Japanese, Korean. They just do not take into consideration Southeast Asian, the don’t believe about South Asian, they don’t really think about Muslim or Buddhist experiences or some other Arab communities.”
The new mural depicts both positive and negative historical events, much like the first number of Asian students who finished UF in the mid 1940s.
Danny Khor, a second-year marine science student, was on the list of students that worked on the mural. For their perhaps the mural, they focused entirely on Patsy Takemoto Mink, the earliest Asian-American woman and woman of color voted into congress.
“If people come away having learned something about Asian-American history,” he stated, “and in particular when other Asian-American girls leave having become experienced in someone like us, someone who’s succeeded, that’s all I ever wanted.”
