Community Talk: Korean American Identity in the Arts
Sun, Mar 20
The Woodruff Arts Center, Memorial Arts Building
Korean American Identity in the Arts
Sun March 20 following the 2:30pm matinee performance of Bina's Six Apples
Event Room, 2nd Floor // Memorial Arts Building // 1280 Peachtree St NE
FREE
The arts often serve as a bridge to engage in dialogue across generations and cultures. In Bina’s Six Apples, playwright Lloyd Suh takes a story passed down through his family about his father’s experience in the Korean War and reimagines it through the eyes of a young girl similar in age to his daughter. This 30min post-show conversation brings local Korean American artists and scholars together to reflect on the themes of Bina’s Six Apples and discuss how they navigate and connect multiple histories, cultural identities, and languages in their work.
This conversation is free with a ticket to the matinee performance of Bina's Six Apples on March 20th.
Guest Speakers
Born in California, Nicole Kang is a second generation Korean-American artist specializing in figurative and portrait work. Nicole's art delves into themes of grief, love, and loss and the complexities of familial relationships. She responds to the challenges of intergenerational and intercultural Asian-American identity through her works. Her illustrations can be seen in Alliance Theatre's The Curious Cardinal, Asian American Advocacy Fund's coloring book, and Asian Americans Advancing Justice’s social media campaign. Her murals can be viewed at Whiskey Bird and at Stacks Squares lofts. Hye Won Kim is Assistant Professor of English and Asian Studies at Kennesaw State University. Her research focuses on the transnational circulation of modern and contemporary drama, theatre, and performance, with particular attention to the intersections between performance studies; critical race theory; gender and sexuality studies; visual culture and sound studies; and Asian and Asian American theatre and culture. Her first monograph South Korean Musical Theatre: Transnational Encounters will be published with Oxford University Press in 2022. Michelle Pokopac is a theatre and film actor of mixed Korean descent. In 2017, Michelle and her partners founded East by Southeast, an organization dedicated to supporting and developing local Asian artists. She is also a member of the group IDEA ATL (Inclusion, diversity, and equity in the arts of Atlanta), in response to the social and racial injustices brought forth from the theatre community of Atlanta.
Jennifer Chung is a singer-songwriter, actor, & founder of the life+creative coaching community known as Today Worthy. Jennifer is a 1st generation Korean-American who was born in Seoul & raised in the bay area. She's a 3rd generation artist with her grandmother & mother both being dance teachers.
