Online Exhibition
Audrey Chan (b. 1982, Chicago, Illinois) is a Los Angeles-based artist, illustrator, and educator. Her research-based projects use drawing, painting, public art, and video to challenge dominant historical narratives through allegories of power, place, and identity. She received a MFA from California Institute of the Arts and a BA with Honors from Swarthmore College. She was commissioned by LA Metro to create a large-scale public artwork for the future Little Tokyo/Arts District Metro Station, opening in 2022. She was the inaugural Artist-in-Residence at the ACLU of Southern California.
For more information, visit her website at audreychan.net.
Follow Audrey on Instagram @audreychan.studio.
Rapper/Activist jason chu speaks of hope and healing in a broken world, blending high energy performances with thoughtfully crafted lyricism.
As a Chinese American kid in suburban Delaware, he found a vocabulary for racial identity and liberation in rap music and hip-hop culture. Starting out freestyling after school with his friends, he began recording and performing music in college.
jason’s work has been presented on the National Mall in Washington DC and curated by the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (Reimagine Public Art: House and Home).
His music has been heard on Warrior (HBO Max), Snowpiercer (TNT), and Wu Assassins (Netflix). He has shared poetry at the Obama White House, been featured in the Chinese American Museum of Los Angeles, and presented at the Getty Center, Flushing Town Hall, and the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center.
As an expert on Asian American identity and hip-hop culture, jason has spoken and led workshops at University of Pennsylvania, New York University, Yale University, and beyond.
Learn more at jasonchumusic.com.
Follow @jasonchumusic on Instagram, TikTok, and everywhere else.
An American Vocabulary: Words to Action is a collaborative project by visual artist Audrey Chan and rapper jason chu. This set of flash cards portrays figures, events, and practices rooted in community, care, and action.
Through these words and images, the artists invite you to participate in a shared vocabulary of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) agency and unity in the fight for justice, healing, and understanding.
AANHPI communities often have a complex relationship with language, both English and heritage tongues. These cards symbolize the ways AANHPI communities have had to translate their inimitably American histories across linguistic, cultural, and imaginative gaps.
They raise questions about American identity: Must one discard the language of previous generations to be perceived as “fully American”? What is lost—or gained—in translation? What words will we use to tell our stories?
An American Vocabulary: Words to Action also includes educational activities created by JANM’s Education department. The project was launched October 8, 2022, with a public art event on the JANM Plaza in Little Tokyo that included live music, an art demonstration, and community organizations.
Audrey Chan and jason chu are participating artists in the Artists At Work initiative in Los Angeles County 2021-2022, a collaboration between the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy at the Japanese American National Museum and Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California.
Artists At Work in Los Angeles County is produced by THE OFFICE performing arts + film and made possible with generous support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, Asian Arts Initiative, and the Ford Foundation.
An American Vocabulary: Words to Action is proudly supported by:
National Center for the Preservation of Democracy at the Japanese American National Museum (NCPD@JANM). Located in the Little Tokyo Historic District of downtown Los Angeles, the NCPD@JANM will further reinforce JANM’s mission and examine the rights, freedoms, and enduring fragility of American democracy through educational programming that includes exhibitions, media arts presentations, public programs, conferences, and civic dialogue/public forums.
Advancing Justice-LA is the nation’s largest legal and civil rights organization for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI). Founded in 1983, Advancing Justice-LA serves more than 15,000 individuals and organizations every year. Through direct services, impact litigation, policy advocacy, leadership development, and capacity building, Advancing Justice—LA focuses on the most vulnerable members of Asian American and NHPI communities while also building a strong voice for civil rights and social justice.
An American Vocabulary: Words to Action is a collaborative project by visual artist Audrey Chan and rapper jason chu. This set of flash cards portrays figures, events, and practices rooted in community, care, and action.
Through these words and images, the artists invite you to participate in a shared vocabulary of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) agency and unity in the fight for justice, healing, and understanding.
AANHPI communities often have a complex relationship with language, both English and heritage tongues. These cards symbolize the ways AANHPI communities have had to translate their inimitably American histories across linguistic, cultural, and imaginative gaps.
They raise questions about American identity: Must one discard the language of previous generations to be perceived as “fully American”? What is lost—or gained—in translation? What words will we use to tell our stories?
An American Vocabulary: Words to Action also includes educational activities created by JANM’s Education department. The project was launched October 8, 2022, with a public art event on the JANM Plaza in Little Tokyo that included live music, an art demonstration, and community organizations.
Audrey Chan and jason chu are participating artists in the Artists At Work initiative in Los Angeles County 2021-2022, a collaboration between the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy at the Japanese American National Museum and Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California.
Artists At Work in Los Angeles County is produced by THE OFFICE performing arts + film and made possible with generous support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, Asian Arts Initiative, and the Ford Foundation.
An American Vocabulary: Words to Action is proudly supported by:
National Center for the Preservation of Democracy at the Japanese American National Museum (NCPD@JANM). Located in the Little Tokyo Historic District of downtown Los Angeles, the NCPD@JANM will further reinforce JANM’s mission and examine the rights, freedoms, and enduring fragility of American democracy through educational programming that includes exhibitions, media arts presentations, public programs, conferences, and civic dialogue/public forums.
Advancing Justice-LA is the nation’s largest legal and civil rights organization for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI). Founded in 1983, Advancing Justice-LA serves more than 15,000 individuals and organizations every year. Through direct services, impact litigation, policy advocacy, leadership development, and capacity building, Advancing Justice—LA focuses on the most vulnerable members of Asian American and NHPI communities while also building a strong voice for civil rights and social justice.