In Our Gallery

Asian Arts Initiative in collaboration with the
Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU presents:

Opening Reception: First Friday February 3, 6-8pm

Featuring talk by curator & Asian pop columnist Jeff Yang!

Asian Arts Initiative in collaboration with the Asian / Pacific / American Institute at NYU is proud to bring MARVELS & MONSTERS to Philadelphia! Drawn from the expansive comics collection of William F. Wu and curated by Jeff Yang, MARVELS & MONSTERS examines stereotypes of Asian identity formed over half a century ago that continue to shape the perceptions of Asian Americans today.

 

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION:
Over four decades that included some of the most turbulent times in our nation's history, science fiction author and cultural studies scholar William F. Wu painstakingly gathered an archive of comics distinguished not only by its size and reach, but by its scope: It is perhaps the world's only, and certainly the largest, collection of comic books featuring images of Asians and Asian Americans. Marvels and Monsters draws from this important collection, recently donated with the help of A/P/A Institute to the NYU Fales Library & Special Collections.

Wu's archive isn't just a treasure trove for fans of graphic fiction, it's also a unique and fascinating look at America's evolving racial and cultural sensibility — showing how images that began as racist and xenophobic propaganda during times of war and nativist unrest have coalesced into archetypes that in many ways still define America's perception of Asians today.

"When I began this collection, it was because I realized that popular culture reaches virtually everyone," says Wu. "These iconic images — good and bad —have real-world effects on people's perceptions of themselves and those around them."

Marvels and Monsters takes the most potent and indelible examples of such images from the thousands in Wu's collection, and organizes them around the archetypes they reflect and sustain — The Alien, the Kamikaze, the Brute, the Lotus Blossom, the Guru, the Brain, the Temptress, the Manipulator — while placing them within both a historical context and a discourse with contemporary Asian American writers and creators including Ken Chen, V.V. Ganeshananthan, Larry Hama, David Henry Hwang, Naomi Hirahara, Genny Lim, Greg Pak, Vijay Prashad, and Gene Luen Yang. The exhibition also contains elements designed to encourage direct engagement with the archetypes, such as life-sized cutouts that allow visitors to put themselves "inside the image" and an installation called "Shades of Yellow" that matches the shades used for Asian skin tones in the comics with their garish PantoneTM color equivalents. It ends with a library of present-day graphic novels by Asian American creators — showing how their influx into the industry has transformed how Asians are depicted.

"The images gathered here are disturbing, even shocking, coming as they do from a genre most associated with young readers," says Jeff Yang, "Asian Pop" columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and editor of the graphic novel Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology. "But that's intentional: These images are our Rogues' Gallery, our own Legion of Doom — these are the supervillains we face in our individual and collective quest for truth, justice, and an Asian American way."

 

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Exhibition-Related Events:

Youth Comics Workshop/Demo (grades 7-12): Friday February 3, 4pm
Prior to the opening reception, we're offering a comics demo with local comic artist Rocky Kev from 4-6pm. SPACE IS LIMITED FOR THIS FREE WORKSHOP. RSVP is required, please call (215) 557-0455 for more information or to register.

• Dr. Theresa Tensuan, Professor of English Literature at Haverford College
• Dr. Josephine Park, Professor of English & Asian American Studies at University of Pennsylvania
• Dr. David Eng, Professor of English & Asian American Studies at University of Pennsylvania
• Dr. Bakirathi Mani, Associate Professor of English at Swarthmore College