About the Artist

Asia's journey into cultural work began in the environmental non-profit sector where they developed culturally relevant environmental education for BIPOC youth. And from the time of their own youth, Asia often used photography and poetry to capture their perspective of the world and environment around them. In 2019, their poem sturdy arms was featured in the second issue of The Tiger Balm Project, Issue 2: TOUCH. 

As a descendent of a long line of oral tradition, Asia believes that community/individual (counter)narratives are an essential part of healing and intergenerational exchange of knowledge, and that art is one of the most accessible and vital means of reclaiming narratives. Understanding that their work in the community, environmental justice, and the arts are not mutually exclusive, Asia incorporated their visual arts practice to their community work in 2021, when they worked with Iu Mien farmers in Sacramento, Yolo, & Solano Counties as a community educator, creating visual tools for accessible sustainable agriculture education that centered the growers' cultural knowledge and experiences. Asia also designed bilingual chronic and mental health education materials for Iu Mien seniors and their families of South Sacramento. 

Asia aims to transform and reclaim Khmu & Iu Mien counternarratives/ways of knowing and learning through storytelling and archiving - emphasizing the use of digital & visual mediums as a tool - by visually reflecting on and contextualizing their own diasporic experiences through their art. This year (2023), they received an Honorable Mention Award in still life from Teravarna Art Gallery for their project Divinity. They also had the honor of winning first place in Asian Law Alliance's Preserving Heritage Photojournalism Competition with their project Sieqv/dorn - An Iu Mien AFAB Family Legacy.