DePaul University Special Collections and Archives celebrated Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month with a pop-up event curated by Ellin M. Kelly Intern Sarah Wilson on Thursday, May 29th. The exhibit highlighted the wide-ranging interests and experiences of the AAPI diaspora through artists’ books from Asian American artists. These selected works discuss grief, music, poetry, and literature. The exhibit also highlighted the historical struggles that Asian Americans have faced in the United States.
A notable artists’ book from the exhibit is Square Word, created by the Chinese American artist Xu Bing. Xu Bing created a new form of calligraphy that incorporates English letters in a Chinese block style format. He incorporates the traditional Chinese calligraphy strokes to create the lettering system that is combined to form an English word in a block format. Born in 1955, Xu Bing immigrated from China to the United States at 35 (The Arts Story: Xu Bing). He created his Square Word Calligraphy to bridge the traditional Chinese calligraphy techniques he acquired in China with his learning of English in the United States. This artists’ book demonstrates strokes, stroke order, and word formation in this square word style. Through this work, Xu Bing integrates the two languages, highlighting his linguistic and physical journey.
Another artists’ book on display was Genghis Chan: Private Eye. The artists’ book is a collaboration between the Chinese American poet, John Yau, and the artist Ed Paschke. A poet, art critic, and curator, John Yau plays with the English language to demonstrate the complicated and often competing realities of his Chinese American identity (Poetry Foundation: John Yau). In the poem Genghis Chan: Private Eye III, Yau highlights the lingering burden on Asian Americans from the struggles their parents faced and the struggles they continue to face (Zhou Xiaojing, 87). In Genghis Chan: Private Eye XIX, Yau uses language to parody the linguistic racism faced by Asian American immigrants (Zhou Xiaojing, 90). Yau’s use of “I” in his poems reflects the fragmented construction of self that is publicly situated within historical, social, cultural, and hierarchical contexts. He also explores the private “I” through the internal construction of self. Yau balances the public and private self to emphasize the complexity of identity particularly as external constructs of identity coexist with internal determinations of self (Zhou Xiaojing). Yau’s poems challenge notions of otherness and identity through his beautifully ambiguous prose and undefinable speaker. 
Irene Chan’s Asian American? Project is a collection of business cards with responses to the stereotypical comments and questions that Asian Americans repeatedly encounter. Through this project, Chan highlights the ways that Asian Americans must continually negotiate their identity, humanity, and belonging. The cards also address the perpetual foreigner stereotype that constantly questions the validity of the American aspect of their identity. The racism and xenophobia Chan addresses in her cards demonstrate the more current aspect of the long-standing discrimination Asian Americans have faced throughout United States history. These histories include the legal battles for citizenship discussed in the Calling All Denizens Resource Book, along with stories from Japanese internment camps highlighted in Deeply Honored and Returning Home.
Even though AAPI Heritage Month has come to a close, the stories and struggles faced by the AAPI diaspora continue year-round. The month of May is a time for celebration, where we can uplift AAPI voices and stories. It is also a time to reflect on histories that shape the current landscape for minoritized people in the United States. Whether it be a conversation about identity, immigration, history, art, or belonging, continue the dialogue with DePaul Special Collections and Archives.