What Echoes Through the Art?
Each year, as we honor Asian American Heritage Month, we invite a local artist to translate our theme into a visual language that speaks beyond words. This year, we are honored to collaborate with Brianna Miller, whose work echoes the rhythms of heritage, memory, and resilience—an evocative tribute to the stories that shape us.
Artist Statement by Brianna Miller
Sketches in Echo
In Ocean Vuong’s poem titled, Self-Portrait as Exit Wounds, he explores the lasting impacts of trauma and memory with the following excerpt:
Instead, let it be the echo to every footstep
drowned out by rain, cripple the air like a name
flung onto a sinking boat, splash the kapok’s bark
through rot & iron of a city trying to forget
the bones beneath its sidewalks, then through
the refuge camp sick with smoke & half-sung…
As I reflected on this year’s Asian American Heritage Month theme of “ECHOES: Letters for New Tomorrows,” I found myself meditating on the development of not only my own identity, but a collective belonging within the face of adversity and survival. The legacy of our past and
generational history creates its own kind of resilient echoes throughout time, in the form of tradition and storytelling. Though the effects of displacement and oppression constantly affect the human experience as an Asian American, these scars drive us to find strength for a better
future.
Meet the Artist: Brianna Miller
Brianna Miller is a Filipina-American Illustrator & Designer based out of Spokane, Washington and originally from Salem, Oregon. In 2014, she graduated from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon with a degree in Communication Design. In 2015, she was an Artist in Residence for TEDxSalem where she presented a talk about the installation piece created for the event. From 2016-2017, Brianna was a PrattMWP Artist in Residence & Community Arts Instructor in Utica, NY.
Currently, she lives in Spokane, Washington as a Freelance Artist. Her commissioned projects range from album artwork for musicians, to posters for festivals, and movie media slipcovers. Recent clients include Vinegar Syndrome, OCN Distribution, SNL’s Sarah Squirm, Death Cab for Cutie & Coachella. In her work, she intends to find a balance of elements from music, movies, and nostalgic cartoons or product packaging. Her sketchbooks are a journal documenting both past and present interests, and often humorously reflecting on current pop culture. An overarching theme in Brianna’s work has been focused on memories, consciousness and shared human experience. Her sketchbooks are a vessel for having a dialogue with the viewer and the most rewarding aspect for her is to hear individual experiences and varied interpretations with her work.
Boba Breaks at 509 Spring Market
EWU Cheney Campus - PUB SkirtACL Spokane’s Boba Breaks is excited to be part of this year’s 509 Spring Market hosted by Asian Student Association of Eastern Washington University (ASA… Read more
Boba Breaks at 509 Spring Market
EWU Cheney Campus - PUB SkirtACL Spokane’s Boba Breaks is excited to be part of this year’s 509 Spring Market hosted by Asian Student Association of Eastern Washington University (ASA EWU)!
- Find our team to chat with us about mental health resources and youth programs
- Get a chance to earn a stipend while learning about the HEAL Act and ways to advocate for environmental justice.
- And as always, grab a yummy cup of boba from Teas Company for free!
509 Spring Market is ASA EWU’s annual signature event which promotes small businesses, celebrating culture, art, and community. This event will be hosted at the PUB Skirt at Eastern Washinton University. We will have small business that will be selling items from baked goods to other trinkets. We’ll also have games to play, and the Asian Student Association will be selling surprise gift bags that come with goodies like drinks, snacks, and a cute surprise!
Resisting Erasure Through Storytelling
Shadle Park LibraryA Humanities WA Speakers Bureau Event with award-winning writer Putsata Reang, author of ‘Ma and Me.’ Brought to you by Spokane Public Library and Asians… Read more
Resisting Erasure Through Storytelling
Shadle Park LibraryA Humanities WA Speakers Bureau Event with award-winning writer Putsata Reang, author of ‘Ma and Me.’ Brought to you by Spokane Public Library and Asians for Collective Liberation.
When Putsata Reang was eight years old, she didn’t understand why her skin was brown when almost all of her classmates’ skin was white. So she put an eraser to her arm and began to rub, hoping to become white. A decade later, feeling disoriented by the dawning realization that she is gay, Putsata put a razor to her wrist. But ultimately she was too ashamed to end her own life. That’s because when she was a baby, and her family fled war in her native Cambodia, her mother had saved her life.
Today, an increasing number of Americans like Putsata are at risk of erasure because of external forces such as anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and internal forces, such as shame and discrimination. Putsata discusses the dangers of dwelling on differences and encourages audiences to share their personal stories as an antidote to erasure.
About the presenter: Putsata Reang (she/her) is an author and journalist whose debut memoir, Ma and Me, was awarded the 2023 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association prize for nonfiction and was recognized as a finalist for the 2023 Lambda Literary Award. Her writing has appeared in publications including the New York Times, Ms. magazine, Politico, and The Guardian. Reang has held several prestigious residencies and was a fellow of the Jack Straw Writers program and Alicia Patterson Foundation for journalists.
Reang lives in Seattle.
Stories Hold the Cure: Writing Workshop with Putsata Reang
The Hive (Events A Room) | 2904 E Sprague AveStories Hold the Cure. We each carry untapped potential for joy, love, resilience, and grit—powerful forces that have been buried beneath the layers of… Read more
Stories Hold the Cure: Writing Workshop with Putsata Reang
The Hive (Events A Room) | 2904 E Sprague Ave
Stories Hold the Cure.
We each carry untapped potential for joy, love, resilience, and grit—powerful forces that have been buried beneath the layers of our pain. And we each have wounds that resist healing—hurts that have calcified into scars and can trap us into narrow narratives of who we are.
What if we reclaim agency over our own narratives and rewrite the stories that have either been imposed upon us or that we have been telling ourselves? What if writing is the medicine and stories hold the cure?
In this generative writing workshop, award-winning memoirist Putsata Reang will guide you on a journey of self-exploration and self-discovery as we write toward the intersection of past, present and future. Using a combination of writing prompts, group sharing, and sensory exercises, Putsata offers a path for transforming past and present pain into purposeful prose.
Free and open to Asian immigrants/refugees and Asian American identifying community members, no writing skills necessary! Donations are encouraged for those who have the financial capacity to contribute so we can continue making our programs accessible.
This event is brought to you by ACL Spokane’s Chai Culture Club, Auntie’s Bookstore, Better Health Together, KH Consulting, YWCA Spokane, Teas Company, KSPS PBS, and KYRS.
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About the Author
Putsata Reang is an author and journalist whose debut memoir, Ma and Me (MCD/FSG May 2022) was a recipient of the 2023 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association award for nonfiction and finalist for a 2023 Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Washington State Book Award and Lambda Literary Award. Her writing has appeared in national and international publications including the New York Times, Ms magazine, the San Jose Mercury News, Politico, and the Guardian. She has lived and worked in more than a dozen countries including Cambodia, Afghanistan and Thailand. Putsata is an alum of Hedgebrook, Mineral School and Kimmel Harding Nelson residencies, and was a fellow of the Jack Straw writers program. In 2005, she was awarded an Alicia Patterson Journalism Fellowship that took her back to her homeland, Cambodia, to report on landless farmers. She is a public speaker and memoir teacher with Seattle Arts & Lectures’ Writers in the Schools program.
About Chai Culture Club
ACL Spokane’s Chai Culture Club aims to communally experience complex Asian and Asian American narratives through divergent cultural media (such as film/visual arts, literary, music/podcast, and theater/performance). We help create spaces of belonging where club members can celebrate our community stories and critically discuss their impact. Club membership is free and open to any Asians/Asian Americans in the Spokane area. Occasionally, we will have events open to the public. Sign up at bit.ly/chaicultureclub. For questions, please contact Frances at fmortel@aclspokane.org.
Ten Thousand Things: Artifacts of Asian American Life
Liberty Park LibraryA Humanities WA Speakers Bureau event with poet Shin Yu Pai. Brought to you by Spokane Public Library and Asians for Collective Liberation. In many… Read more
Ten Thousand Things: Artifacts of Asian American Life
Liberty Park LibraryIn many Chinese sayings, “ten thousand” is used in a poetic sense to convey something infinite, vast, and unfathomable. In a sense, the story of Asians in America is just that. In her NPR podcast Ten Thousand Things, Shin Yu Pai explores a collection of objects and artifacts that reveal personal and cultural values, stories of diaspora, and tales of trauma that illuminate the Asian American experience.
In this talk enriched by audio clips, Pai shares intimate stories from Asian American communities drawn from two seasons of her chart-topping podcast. From a second-hand novel to a blue suit worn by a congressman on January 6, Shin Yu Pai will discuss Asian American histories, the complexity of Asian American identities and where they fit or don’t fit within larger conversations on race, and what the Asian American experience was like during the pandemic.
About the Presenter
Shin Yu Pai (she/her) is the creator and host of Ten Thousand Things, a podcast of Asian American stories produced for KUOW. A published poet and author of 13 books, she currently serves as Seattle’s Civic Poet through 2024. Her work has appeared in publications such as the New York Times and Atlas Obscura. She holds an MA degree in Museology from the University of Washington and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Pai lives in Seattle.
No Neutral: Poetry Night with Shin Yu Pai
Auntie's BookstoreACL Spokane’s Chai Culture Club presents Shelley Memorial Award winner and former Seattle Civic Poet, Shin Yu Pai, as she graces us with a… Read more
No Neutral: Poetry Night with Shin Yu Pai
Auntie's Bookstore
ACL Spokane’s Chai Culture Club presents Shelley Memorial Award winner and former Seattle Civic Poet, Shin Yu Pai, as she graces us with a retrospective reading of her poetry across the years, including her most recent work, No Neutral.
A collection deeply occupied with the notion of voice and who gets to have one, No Neutral presents poet Shin Yu Pai’s perspective in its expansive range of concerns, reaching toward what’s most authentic. She dives into explorations of place and their histories: from Port Townsend and the Inland Empire of Southern California to the deserts surrounding Palm Springs, the poet contemplates one’s identity within these shifting spaces. Throughout the book, the author weaves poems about social unrest, conflict, solidarities, friendships, the mindset of an activist, and her experiences as a woman, mother, artist, and daughter.
Joining Shin Yu is Spokane local poet Asyia Gover who will be reading a couple of her own writings including pieces from her first chapbook, East Side Solitude.
Free and open to all! RSVP and get a chance to win a book in the raffle. Donations are encouraged for those who have the financial capacity to contribute so we can continue making our programs accessible.
This event is brought to you by ACL Spokane’s Chai Culture Club, Auntie’s Bookstore, Better Health Together, KH Consulting, YWCA Spokane, KSPS PBS, and KYRS.
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About the Artists/Poets
Shin Yu Pai is the 2024 Shelley Memorial Award winner. She was The City of Seattle’s Civic Poet from 2023-2024 and served as the former Poet Laureate of The City of Redmond from 2015-2017. She is the author of 13 books, most recently No Neutral (Empty Bowl, 2023) and Less Desolate (Blue Cactus, 2023). Her work has received awards from The Academy of American Poets, Artist Trust, 4Culture, and The Awesome Foundation. Her poetry films have screened at the Zebra Poetry Film Festival and the Northwest Film Forum. Shin Yu is also the creator and host of Ten Thousand Things, an award-winning podcast on Asian American stories that she produced for KUOW, Seattle’s National Public Radio affiliate for three seasons and now produces independently.
Asyia Gover is a writer, artist, educator, and mediator. Her poetry has appeared in the multimedia collection, SEXT (boys who like butterflies, 2011), and anthology zines such as Love and Outrage (2016). She has written and co-directed three stage plays for youth performers, in partnership with Odyssey Middle School. She has taught individual and group classes to all age levels on subjects including cannabis culture, critical pedagogy, and creative language. She completed an Interdisciplinary Concentration at Fairhaven College in 2019, and has also received certifications aligning with Washington State standards in Medical Cannabis Consultation (2017) and Interest-Based Mediation (2023). In March 2024, Asyia received the Washington Mediation Association‘s “Rookie of the Year Award” for her development and management of Whatcom County’s first housing-focused mediation program. Her work seeks to capture a queer, third-culture perspective on ordinary life and folk traditions. She and her feline familiar, Cora, have made a home in the liminal space between the Pacific and Inland Northwests. Depending on the season, you might find her harvesting fruits and veggies from the backyard garden, walking along the beach at low tide, curled up with a good book, or spinning donuts in a snowy parking lot. East Side Solitude (Finishing Line Press, 2024) is her first chapbook.
About Chai Culture Club
ACL Spokane’s Chai Culture Club aims to communally experience complex Asian and Asian American narratives through divergent cultural media (such as film/visual arts, literary, music/podcast, and theater/performance). We help create spaces of belonging where club members can celebrate our community stories and critically discuss their impact. Club membership is free and open to any Asians/Asian Americans in the Spokane area. Occasionally, we will have events open to the public (like this poetry night). Sign up at bit.ly/chaicultureclub. For questions, please contact Frances at fmortel@aclspokane.org.
Climate Chats Café: Sip, Share, & Connect
First Avenue Coffee (1011 W. First Ave, Spokane, WA)Big challenges feel lighter when we face them together. Climate change can be overwhelming, but sharing our thoughts in a supportive space can turn worry… Read more
Climate Chats Café: Sip, Share, & Connect
First Avenue Coffee (1011 W. First Ave, Spokane, WA)Big challenges feel lighter when we face them together. Climate change can be overwhelming, but sharing our thoughts in a supportive space can turn worry into connection and action. Let’s talk, reflect, and inspire each other.
Join us for our new Climate Chats Café series, a monthly space to talk openly about climate change in a relaxed, welcoming environment. No agenda, no pressure—just good coffee and real conversation.
Why Join?
- Talk through climate emotions in a welcoming space.
- Meet others who care about the planet.
- No experience needed—just bring yourself!
Come for the coffee, stay for the conversation. ☕
Need a translator? Email lmolina@aclspokane.org at least 7 days before the event.
Closing Reception: New Wave Film Screening
Garland TheaterMile-high hair. Synthesized sounds. Teenage rebellion. Join us at the Closing Reception of our month-long celebration of Asian American Heritage Month. In honor of… Read more
Closing Reception: New Wave Film Screening
Garland Theater
Mile-high hair. Synthesized sounds. Teenage rebellion.
Join us at the Closing Reception of our month-long celebration of Asian American Heritage Month. In honor of the 50th Anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War and resettlement of Southeast Asian refugees in the United States, we will be screening the Tribeca winning documentary feature film, New Wave. Filmmaker Elizabeth Ai was on a mission to excavate an untold story of rebellious punks in the chaotic world of 80s Vietnamese New Wave until she uncovers a hidden past. Watch the trailer here. There will be a post-screening Q&A with the director.
Free and open to all! Donations are encouraged for those who have the financial capacity to contribute so we can continue making our programs accessible.
This event is brought to you by ACL Spokane’s Chai Culture Club, Asians for Collective Action, Better Health Together, KH Consulting, Gonzaga University, Gesa Credit Union, Teas Company, Electric Photoland, YWCA Spokane, KSPS PBS, KYRS, and Garland Theater.
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About the Director
Elizabeth Ai is a Chinese Vietnamese American award-winning filmmaker, storyteller, and author. Her debut feature documentary, NEW WAVE, premiered in competition at the 2024 Tribeca Festival, earning a Special Jury Mention for Best New Documentary Director and critical acclaim from The New York Times, Vogue, IndieWire, Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco Chronicle. The New York Times selected it as a festival Critics’ Pick, calling it “a soft scream of a film” about ’80s Vietnamese diaspora culture, while Vogue praised its revelatory storytelling.
She is the author of New Wave: Rebellion and Reinvention in the Vietnamese Diaspora and an Emmy winner and nominee for her branded content with ESPN and National Geographic. She created the original pilot for VICE/Munchies’ Bong Appétit, which was later picked up for a series on Viceland. Her producing credits include Dirty Hands, Saigon Electric, Ba, and A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem.
An alum of Sundance, Tribeca, Berlinale, and Firelight Media, Ai’s work has been supported by the Center for Asian American Media, Cinereach, Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
About Chai Culture Club
ACL Spokane’s Chai Culture Club aims to communally experience complex Asian and Asian American narratives through divergent cultural media (such as film/visual arts, literary, music/podcast, and theater/performance). We help create spaces of belonging where club members can celebrate our community stories and critically discuss their impact. Club membership is free and open to any Asians/Asian Americans in the Spokane area. Occasionally, we will have events open to the public. Sign up at bit.ly/chaicultureclub. For questions, please contact Frances at fmortel@aclspokane.org.
