Voices of Freedom
Inspired by the poem of Noble Laurette Rabindra Nath Tagore, Inner Eye Arts presents the visual art showcase titled “Voices of Freedom,” which brings together artists from Asian and Asian diaspora, reflecting on the diverse perspectives on freedom about justice and decolonial practices. It explores the deep connection between creativity and freedom. It aims to create works that foster new ideas that challenge established norms, expand our knowledge to understand our histories and communities, and imagine new pathways to the future. The selected works by a diverse array of artists intend to take our viewers on an introspective journey to think about ways to create just and equitable systems critically.
Featured Artists Shailly Sharma Bhatnagar, Ruth Tabancay, Reiko Fujii, Rea Lynn de Guzman, Pamela Ybañez, Manu Kaur, Maggie Yee, Kiana Honarmand, Irene Wibawa
Indrani Nayar-Gall
Ellen Bepp
Community Art Project Participants
Lindsay Dirkx Brown Gallery inside San Ramon Community Center 12501 Alcosta Blvd, San Ramon, CA
Reception Sunday, Oct 6, 2024 2-5 pm
I have 3 quilts exhibited here: The Residents, Home, and we are not your enemy.
A Place of Her Own
A PLACE OF HER OWN: An Art Exhibition is a found-object based art exhibition. PLACE multiethnic, multigenerational alumni artists share their healing journeys and the art created in answer to the question, “If you had a place of your own, what would it be?”
Using found objects, their intuition and self-agency, they create works that speak to their healing journeys, imperfect, messy and gloriously full of epiphanies.
August 11. Opening: Gallery 12-5 pm Recep 1pm – 4pm
August 18. Artist Talk: Gallery 12-5 pm/ Talk 1pm – 4pm
Sept 15. Closing Celebration: Gallery 12– 3pm
Location: JSEI at 1285 66th St, Emeryville, CA 94608
Artists include: Ahran Lee, Amy Lam, AVOTCJA, Christina Yu, Christine Yang, Cueponcaxochitl Moreno Sandoval, Cynthia Tom, Deborah Santana, Emily Yamauchi, Frances Cachapero, Irene Wibawa, Jazz Diaz, Julie Lee Andersen, Katie Quan, Manon Wada with Sanié Bokhari, Martha Zamora, PAZ, Purla Montiel, Reyna Daudian, Shari Arai DeBoer, Tomo Hirai, Yeujin Yoon, Zaina Berger
My two quilts, The Residents and Home are part of this exhibit.
We Are Present
I’m so grateful and honored to have my quilt, Home be alongside the works of incredible Asian American artists in the exhibit, We Are Present, curated by Na Omi Shintani
May 18-June 16, 2024
Kitsune Community Studio
Old Barn 514B Kelly St
Half Moon Bay
Opening reception: May 18, 1-4 pm
Thank you so much Na Omi,
Point Molate
POINT MOLATE EXHIBITION AT RICHMOND ART CENTER:
ARTSCCC (ARTS CONTRA COSTA COUNTY) CURATION
Point Molate is a diverse ecosystem known as an osprey recovery site and for its rare eelgrass beds,
coastal prairie, and coastal bluff native plants. It’s located next to California’s third largest oil refinery in
Richmond. Communities that border the facility experience higher health impacts and advocates seek
equitable access along with preservation. Artists Rebeca García-González, Irene Wibawa, Tony Tamayo,
and the butohBuddies performance group (Ruth Ichinaga, Kiyono Kishi, Lipton Mah, Nina Moore, and
Irene Wibawa) created artworks inspired by Point Molate. ARTSCCC (Arts Contra Costa County) is
curating and partners with the Richmond Art Center for the Point Molate exhibition.
The Richmond Art Center (2540 Barrett Ave, Richmond, CA) will host the Point Molate exhibition from
January 24th – March 16th, 2024. The reception is Saturday January 27th from 2-4pm with partner
introductions at 3:00pm. On February 24th at 1pm, the butohBuddies will share a performance inspired
by Point Molate. Following the performance, curator Jenny E. Balisle will facilitate a conversation with
the Point Molate artists. The Richmond Art Center is open Wednesday through Saturday from
10am-4pm.
Featured artists include Rebeca García-González, Irene Wibawa, Tony Tamayo, and the butohBuddies
performance group. ARTSCCC Executive Founding Director Jenny Balisle served as Richmond Arts &
Culture Commission Chair and Public Arts Advisory Committee Chair. When curating the Point Molate
exhibition, Balisle selected artists who are dedicated community leaders in which their art practices
consistently speak to the human experience.
Since 1936, the Richmond Art Center has been sharing art and creating with the community through
classes, exhibitions, events, and off-site activities. Their high-quality art making experiences extend to
West Contra Costa Unified School District schools, community centers, and the Richmond Public
Library. Richmond Art Center continues to be a participatory space that seeks to equitably grow and
sustain innovative art practices in Richmond and beyond.
ARTSCCC, Arts Contra Costa County, ARTSCCC (Arts Contra Costa County) is a grassroots service and
advocacy arts organization whose top priority is an equitable and sustainable arts organization. ARTSCCC writes grants, manages projects, promotes social media, and advocates policy to support the creative community. The nonprofit Independent Arts & Media is the fiscal sponsor for ARTSCCC.
I have 5 works: The Residents, Home, and 3 accompanying works (zoomed in details of Residents) and the video of butohBuddies’ first work., Undercurrents.
Open Circle: Belonging, Self, and Community Care
Belonging is the feeling of security and support when there is a sense of acceptance, inclusion, and identity for a member of a certain group.
The show invites artists who have created/co-created spaces/artworks honoring their personal needs, desires, or responsibilities while taking a sense of agency and power over their circumstances. The show takes from Audre Lorde’s famous quote, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
We are interested in diverse artistic practices centered around self-care through which artists from marginalized communities connect with the external world and their own experience. This includes understanding interpersonal acts of compassion, community care, and what it means to be there for one another.”
Location: Lindsay Dirkx Brown Art Gallery; Located inside the San Ramon Community Center – 12501 Alcosta Blvd. San Ramon, 94583
Exhibition dates: September 6 – October 28, 2022
Hours: Mon-Fri 8 am – 5 pm, (Sat and Sun, maybe open depending on special events at the site)
Opening reception: September 10, 2022 3:30-6 pm
Featured Artists:
Arlene Biala (presented 3 poems at the opening reception)
Bernali Ghosh, Betty Nobue Kano, Irene Wibawa, Kathy Fujii-Oka, Lydia Nakashima Degarrod, Maggie Yee, Manon Wada, Namita Paul, Nirmal Raja, Reiko Fujii, Shailly Sharma Bhatnagar
Once again, InnerEye Arts led by curator Pallavi Sharma, presents an important and timely exhibit . This exhibit and its premise speaks to me about how we grapple more than two years into a global pandemic, and decades into an increasingly extreme climate emergency. It is easy, and perhaps even a privileged way, to deal with the challenges we are facing, as inevitable. Giving up is not an option for many people who are facing these crises. And as people continue to fight for their own future, they must also advocate for their own mental, emotional, and physical well-being.
In my response to this, I have created two new works: one focuses on the rollerskating community, through my own experience skating in my local group, Rich City Rollers. This work is titled Finding Rest and Joy. The second is a collaborative installation, Sending Love, with Maggie Yee, Manon Wada, Reiko Fujii and I, almost 3 years in the making using mail art as its medium as we connect through video meetings and electronic communications and through analog and physical mail art. For this work, we included mail art that has been exchanged, and also we created our self portraits.
I’m so honored to be exhibiting these works alongside all these incredible artists. As always, my deep gratitude goes to to the InnerEye Arts team and to Pallavi Sharma for creating space for artists like myself to show up and be seen.
Water is Thicker than Blood
Two of my works will be included the exhibition, Water is Thicker Than Blood, at Root Division, 1131 Mission St. SF curated by Rachel Poonsiriwong.
Exhibition dates: Jan. 7 – Feb. 12, 2022 by appointment.
In person events require proof of vaccine and rsvp https://rootdivision.org/exhibition/water-is-thicker-than-blood/
Opening reception: Jan 8, 2022 7-9 pm
Closing reception: Feb 12, 2022 7-9 pm
To say I am honored to be in this lineup of incredible artists would be an understatement. These are academics and professionals, like Pallavi Sharma and Lydia Nakashima Degarrod, and not just someone scrappy who cobbles things together at 3 am with seemingly little planning. Still, if opportunity knocks, I’m going to answer and thank my lucky stars I landed among such incredible artists.
The incredible artists:
Nanci Amaka
Kira Dominguez Hultgren
Ghazal Ghazi
Madeleine Ignon
Ahn Lee
Jennifer Lugris
Deepa Mahajan
Alicia McDaniel** & Sam Johnson
Alexander Feliciano Mejía
Lydia Nakashima Degarrod
Elisa Ortega Montilla
Susan Ossman
tamara suarez porras
Juan Carlos Rodriguez Rivera
Pallavi Sharma
Irene Wibawa
From their press release which gives the show context
“Join us this January and February for Water is Thicker Than Blood, curated by Rachel
Poonsiriwong. This exhibition explores the complexities of intergenerational and familial traumas
alongside pathways to healing. The show highlights artists whose work has nurtured vulnerable
spaces that reflect on emotional, cultural, or geographical rifts.
1131 Mission St. San Francisco, CA 94103 415-863-7668 rootdivision.org
At its heart, Water is Thicker than Blood investigates the weaving of trauma into domesticity and
genealogical systems. On a personal level, the featured works carry artists’ intimate expressions
of grief, longing, and discomfort. Collectively, this exhibition surfaces the intersectionality of
familial rifts and traumas with many immigrant and diasporic experiences. Works in the show aim
to acknowledge these shared experiences within many families as a byproduct of institutional
failures during the pandemic.
Water is Thicker than Blood is an intermixture of healing practices and a coming-to-terms — each
piece acts as a personal insight into an artist’s memory. The show is most fully experienced as a
gi, in which viewers honor and reciprocate the vulnerability that each artist has invested into
their work. In a similar vein, viewers will have an opportunity to converse with the pieces as
gateways for processing and articulating their own intergenerational traumas.”
Dhai Akhar: Seeded in Love
I’m super grateful to be a part of Dhai Akhar exhibit in Lindsay Dirkx Brown gallery in San Ramon community center co-curated by Tomyé Neal-Madison and Pallavi Sharma, presented by InnerEye Arts. Join us for the Artist Reception Dhai Akhar: Seeded in Love on Sunday Aug 8, 3-5 pm. Exhibit runs Aug 3- Aug 28, 2021
Participating artists: Ellen Bepp, Shailly Sharma Bhatnagar, Orin Carpenter, Gene Dominique, Reiko Fujii, Indrani Nayar-Gall, Nirmal Raja, Valerie Brown Troutt, Orlonda Uffre, Fan Lee Warren, TheArthur Wright, works by local San Ramon kids, and me.
Flora, Family Ghosts + Resilient Correspondences
Thanks to Richmond Arts Center and Richmond Arts Commission, I have the good fortune to be in a conversation with two fantastic artists friends, Manon Wada and Shari Arai DeBoer about the running threads/themes in our works despite how varied we are in our own processes and the media we choose. Click on the image below for our virtual gallery, more info, and reserving your free tickets to get the zoom link. The conversation will be on Thursday May 27, at 7-8 pm June 10 at 7-8 pm PST.
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Sowing Agency
I’m very honored to have my work, Balance Forward be included in a show presented by AAWAA and a lot of community partners called Sowing Agency: Seeding the Future for Environmental Justice (click on the link for all the information and registering for events)
Exhibit is physically shown at SOMArts Cultural Center, 934 Brannan St, SF, April 30-May 23, 2021 You can visit the gallery in person using a timed ticket.
Participating Artists: Angela Angel, Angela Han, Cindy Shih, Claire Lau, Erina Alejo, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, Gradient Earthlings (Victoria Cheng, Natalie Yap), Janna Añonuevo Langholz, Kristiana Chan, Lydia Nakashima Degarrod, Narinda Heng, Pallavi Sharma, Pam Tau Lee, Priya Kaur Handa, Radical Family Farms, Rebecca Maria Goldschmidt, Sunshine G. Velasco, Tenzin Tsering (Tenzoni), Tricia Rainwater-Tutwiler, Wen-hao Tien
Curator: Lisa Pradhan (Forward Echo and </3)
Exhibition Manager Diana Li (Agrarianaa: Art Inspired by APA Agricultural Roots and Appendix)
Exhibition Design Intern Rachel Poonsiriwong
Programs and Publicity Melanie Elvena
Public Relations Christina Campbell
Jurors Shina Robinson (Local Policy Associate at Asian Pacific Environmental Network), Maureen Nandini Mitra (Managing Editor of Earth Island Journal), Rebekah Olstad (Community Herbalist, Red Autumn Apothecary)
Opening reception: Friday April 30, 6 pm PST: Featuring poetry readings, performances and talks by Rebecca Maria Goldschmidt, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, Pallavi Sharma, Narinda Heng and Erina Alejo. After-party and social hour to follow on Gather.Town.
Environmental Resiliency and AAPI Leadership: May 15, 4 PM PST: Artist panel co-presented by the Asian Art Museum featuring Pam Tau Lee, Angela Angel, Priya Handa and Asian Pacific Environmental Network organizer, Cheuk-Ning Li. Moderated by curator, Lisa Pradhan and sumi dutta from 18 Million Rising.
Closing Reception: 2 PM PST: A screening of short films and a Q&A discussion with the filmmakers highlighting environmental justice and solidarity.
Click on a my nonprofessional screenshot of the event page below to go to the official site with the official links.
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Creative self care
I made a little video for Richmond Art Center on my simple creatively way to stay grounded during the time of social distancing and shelter in place.
https://richmondartcenter.org/creative-self-care/creative-self-care-irene-wibawa/
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Dhai Akhar: Seeded in Love
A Multidisciplinary Show
Artist Talk and Art Showcase
Saturday, October 3, 2020 at 7 PM PDT – 8 PM PDT
Public · Hosted by InnerEye Art
Online with Facebook Live
Featured Artists: Ellen Bepp, Shailly Sharma Bhatnagar, Lydia Nakashima Degarrod, Reiko Fujii, Indrani Nayar Gall,
Nirmal Raja, and Irene Wibawa.
To honor the radical power of love “Dhai Akhar: Seeded in Love” features artists and writers whose art practice creates a dialogic space for healing and transformation. Inspired by the teaching, poetry, and the life of saint-poet ‘Kabir’, the showcase urges inclusion, acceptance, and equity for all, standing firmly against the instigation of hate and communal violence.
Curated by Pallavi Sharma (Ph.D.)
For Facebook event page- https://www.facebook.com/348132893632/photos/gm.1181640508887283/10158567554573633/
Featuring Folk Singer Padmshri Prahlad Singh Tipaniya And Scholar, Writer, And Educator Pranjali Sirasao.
https://www.innereyearts.com/ongoing-art-show–dhai-akhar-seeded-in-love.html
BRIDGE THE BALLOT
A group art exhibition curated by Jenny Balisle
Exhibition: September 14 – November 9, 2020
Virtual Events
Reception: Friday, September 25th at 7pm PT via Zoom
Artist talks:
October 2nd 7pm PT (Lopez, Wibawa, Heard)
October 9th 7pm PT (Seneferu, Conway, Tamayo)
October 16th 7 pm PT (Garcia-Gonzalez, Ortiz, Balisle)
Participating artists include Jenny E. Balisle, Tiffany Conway, Rebeca Garcia-Gonzalez, A’aron Heard, Robin D. Lopez, Tatiana Ortiz, Richard Muro Salazaar, Malik Seneferu, Tony Tamayo, and Irene Wibawa.
Right Here, Right Now, Richmond, NIAD Art Center, Richmond, CA
December 11, 2019 – January 24, 2020 and Richmond Art Center, Richmond CA December 17, 2019 – March 3, 2020
Opening reception at NIAD, 551 23rd St, Richmond CA on Sat. Dec 14, 1-4 pm
Opening reception at Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave, Richmond CA on Sat Jan 25, 2-5 pm.
Closing reception & artist talk at Richmond Art Center on Sat Feb 29, 3-5 pm
Come say hello.
National Women’s Studies Association annual conference, San Francisco, November 14-17, 2019
Hungry Ghost, A Place of Her Own, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, August-September, 2019
(Re)Call: Counternarratives, Lindsay Dirkx Brown Gallery, San Ramon, October 2018
Grounds for Change, Village Theater Art Gallery, Danville, August-October 2018
A Place of Her Own, J-Sei, Emeryville, May-June 2018
Grounds for Change, Inner Eye Arts, Lindsey Dirkx Brown Gallery, San Ramon, October 2017
Hungry Ghost, Place Collective, Gallery Route One, Point Reyes, September-November 2017
Liquid Stories, Inner Eye Arts, Lindsey Dirkx Brown Gallery, San Ramon, October 2016
A Place of Her Own, International Hotel, Manilatown Center, San Francisco, May-June 2016
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- Irene Wibawa 2016-A
A Place of Her Own, SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, November-December 2015
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- photo by Reiko Fujii
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- photo by Laura Ming
Place of Her Own, Bryant Street Studios, San Francisco, March 2015
Intersections: Asian American Narratives, Inner Eye Arts, Lindsey Dirkx Brown Gallery, San Ramon, February 2015
A Place of Her Own, Asian American Women Artists Association, Thoreau Center for Sustainability, San Francisco, June-Sept 2014
Terrestrial, Los Medanos Art Gallery, Pittsburg October-November 2013
Lost and Found, Los Medanos Art Gallery, Pittsburg January-March, 2012
A Place of Her Own, Asian American Women Artists Association, SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, May 2011
Awakening the Worlds of Objects and Nature, Ruth’s Table Gallery, San Francisco, January-March 2011
A Place of Her Own, Asian American Women Artists Association, Driftwood Gallery, San Francisco, September 2010
Beyond the Self, Jerry Adams Gallery, Berkeley City College, Berkeley, April 2010
Student Art Show, Jerry Adams Gallery, Berkeley City College, Berkeley, December-February 2010
Asian American Women Artist Association 20th Anniversary Celebration, SOMArts, San Francisco, September 2009
Friday Nights at the de Young Museum presents: College Night: A Tribute to Asian American Art and Cultural Expressions: 1900 to the Present, De Young Museum, San Francisco, November 2008
ProArts Box Art Benefit Auction 2008, Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, November 2008
I ended up having a bidding war over my own piece with a lady whom I learned later was the director of Kala Art Institute, not that it would have mattered. I won the bidding war, because it turned out I was really stubborn. I was also out of $150. 🙁 but it was for a good cause. :]
ProArts Open Studios- Digital Arts Club, Berkeley City College, Berkeley, June 2008
Berkeley City College Open House, Berkeley, April 2008