On May 10, 2025, the Li Tang Community and THE BLANC collaboratively launched Language of Visibility, a series of exhibitions and events celebrating the growth and achievements of the Asian art diaspora over the past five years. At the center of Language of Visibility is the group exhibition Collective Marks and Strokes of Imagination, which brings together thirty-one artists and collectives. The exhibition presents a rich body of work spanning video, painting, installation, performance, and multimedia experimentation. Collective Marks and Strokes of Imagination reflects on the five-year journey of the Li Tang Community since its founding in early 2020 and marks another critical milestone following its third-anniversary retrospective, Echoes of Home, held on Roosevelt Island, New York. This exhibition highlights the ongoing investigations of artists from diverse backgrounds as they continue to push the boundaries of creativity and aesthetic expression, navigating the complex intersections of globalization and identity.
Language of Visibility is not only a dialogue proposed by the Li Tang Community and THE BLANC to the Asian art diaspora but also a critical inquiry into the “language of seeing.” British critic John Berger argues in his monograph Ways of Seeing (1972) that seeing is not a neutral act of perception but a constructed process—one shaped by ideology, systems of power, and cultural context. What we “see” is often no more than a projection of the knowledge and beliefs we have internalized within a social system. In an age overwhelmed by images, it has become increasingly critical for artists to develop new languages of seeing grounded in their cultural backgrounds and lived experiences. In addition, “seeing and being seen” has remained a central concern for the Asian art diaspora within the globalized contemporary art system. The Language of Visibility examines how images and artworks are perceived and, more importantly, interrogates who holds the power to see and to be seen. How should the Asian art diaspora be presented, interpreted, and understood? Visibility here becomes a form of active visibility, differentiated visibility, and existential visibility—a way of interpreting and seeing that emerges from within complex multicultural structures.
Amy Park’s work, We All Have a Thirst for Connection, draws from multiple disciplines, including fashion design, material studies, and sculptural language. Through techniques such as weaving, interlacing, layering, and stitching, she integrates traditional textile craftsmanship into contemporary canvas. Park’s practice often explores the emotional bonds and relationships between human beings. The use of soft materials and repetitive movement also carries specific cultural significance—through the interplay of line and texture, she gazes back to the traditions of female labor and material use in East Asian art history, ultimately transforming them into a new visual language that embodies emotional flow, layered identity, and cultural memory.
Ami Park, We All Have a Thirst for Connection, Cotton rope, yarn, and fabric on canvas, 36 x 36 x 1.7 in, 2021
Cheng Gong’s series Culinary Canvases places fresh meat and seafood, sourced from everyday life in New York’s Chinatown, into the composition of Western oil painting. In his work, Stir-fried Pork with Pepper, daily ingredients from home cooking—pork knuckles, pork belly, chili peppers, ginger, and garlic—are presented in a floating and surreal state. Set against a backdrop reminiscent of Dutch still life, crimson fabrics and a symmetrical, grounded tabletop generate a tension and visual restraint, incorporating these ingredients with a sense of ritual and gravity. Food is not only an inseparable part of cultural identity but also a material vessel for memory, migration, and belonging. Through reconstructions of “table scenes,” Gong evokes the sensory world of the immigrant gourmand while prompting viewers to reflect: What is the taste of home?
Cheng Gong, Culinary Canvases-01. Stir-fried Pork with Pepper, Medium format digital camera, 38.55 x 34 x 2 in,2023
Sao Tanaka’s Imitation of Nature #02 integrates the philosophical and conceptual elements of traditional ink painting with the visual language of modern art. Drawing on the brushwork of classical landscape painting, she constructs rhythms in which emptiness and fullness, distance and proximity coexist. Within the temporal and philosophical dimensions embedded in ink art, Tanaka intentionally “breaks” into the elegant scene with a rainbow-colored waterfall, allowing the sensory intensity and freedom of modernism to disrupt the peace of traditional landscapes. This deliberate “displacement” and “visual paradox” inserts historical motifs into a contemporary context marked by restlessness and uncertainty. The final presentation speaks of a disruption derived from the encounter of Eastern and Western painting techniques, past and present—a visual gesture that signals a forward step, grounded in the return gaze.
Sao Tanaka, Imitation of Nature #02, Material Sumi ink, gold, paint acrylic oil paint on mulberry paper, 30 x 21 in, 2025
Alongside the leading exhibition Collective Marks and Strokes of Imagination, three independent curatorial projects were added to offer diverse perspectives on Language of Visibility. Phil Cai’s Open Kitchen – Fusion expands the definition of “installation” into a more philosophical and dynamic form of experimentation, blending text-based practices with critical reflections on the dislocated status of Asian contemporary art within the global art landscape and system. Chiarina Chen’s from the settled edge transforms the traditional white cube gallery wall into a time-specific, multimedia, memory-infused canvas that presents the displacement experienced by immigrants. Seoyoung Kim’s Tracing… … … showcases artists’ investigations into materiality as a means of representing social structures, histories of labor, and the characteristics of cultural symbols, reflecting the tensions and nostalgia between collective narratives and individual memory.
In addition, the Li Tang Community and THE BLANC have jointly organized five artist salons and a series of performance art events. According to Webson Ji, the Li Tang Community director and the curator of Collective Marks and Strokes of Imagination, “Li Tang Community is not interested in forming an elite club or hierarchical structure. It is more like an open playground—a space for dialogue, collaboration, and joyful exchange for all Asian diaspora creatives. It is a place to gather because we care—for art, for each other, and for the stories we carry.”
Li Tang Community 5th Anniversary Exhibition
Exhibition Title: Collective Marks and Strokes of Imagination
Location: THE BLANC, 15 E 40 St, New York
Time: May 10 – May 30, 2025
Curator: Webson Ji
Artists: Abhishek Tuiwala, Ami Park, Anh Đào Hà, Ari Fu Hong, Catherine Chun Hua Dong, Cheng Gong, Chengtao Yi, Danyang Anna Song, Ellie Kayu Ng, Han Qin, Hannah Bang, Jiannan Wu, Jingyi Wang, Kimin Kim, Larry Li, Nix Liu Xin, Paul Mok, Sao Tanaka, Se Young Yim, Sin-ying Ho, Sizhu Li, Sophie Ruoyu Zhang, Suki Violet Su, Timon I, Xianglong Li, Xin Song, Xinan Helen Ran, Yang Mai, Yue Zhou, Zhen Guo, zzyw
Community Friends: Accent Sisters, A Space Gallery, Fou Gallery, RainRain Gallery, Site, Tutu Gallery, VillageOneArt, 7s Art
THE BLANC x Li Tang Community Independent Curatorial Projects
from the unsettled edge
Curator: Chiarina Chen
Artist: Cheeny Celebrado-Royer
Open Kitchen – Fusion
Curator: Phil Zheng Cai
Artists: Anh Nguyen, Felisa Nguyen, and Huyen Tran
Tracing… … …
Curator: Seoyoung Kim
Artists: Eun Lee, Janette Oh, and Basharat Ali Syed
THE BLANC x Li Tang Panel Discussions
Panel #1 – “Unpacking Visibility”
Moderator: Chiarina Chen
Speakers: Ami Park, Han Qin, Sizhu Li, Zhen Guo
Panel #2 – “Between Seeing and Sensing”
Moderator: Webson Ji
Speakers: April Z, Lynn Hai, Seoyoung Kim, Vic Fu
Panel #3 – “Transcultural Echoes”
Moderator: Vivienne
Speakers: Suki Violet Su, Abhishek Tuiwala, Ellie Kayu Ng
Panel #4
Speakers: Phil Zheng Cai, Seoyoung Kim
Panel #5
Moderators: Phil Zheng Cai, Seoyoung Kim
Speakers: Huyen Tran, Felisa Nguyen, Basharat Ali Syed
THE BLANC x Li Tang Community Events
1. Accent Sisters Performances Poem Reading – “Reverberation as Recognition”
Readers: Alice Liang, Cynthia Chen, Eva Chang, Ginny Li, Tenny Liu, Madeline Zuzevich, Yağmur Akyürek, Winifred Dongyi Wang
Moderator: Cynthia Chen
2. A Space Gallery Artist Critique
Artists: Ruoyu Gong, Steffie Chau, Daria Fontaine Pasquali, Chanya Vitayakul, Iris Guan
Moderator: Rena Kexin Zhang
3. Guqin Performance
Yinze (Frank) Wang
4. Artist Performance
Hannah Bang
5. 7s Art Tea Ceremonies
Kevin Ge, Jing Zhao, Chenguang Hu
Event Planning & Director: Webson Ji
Event Manager: Adrian Cameron
Event Coordinator: Sophie Ruoyu Zhang
Visual Designer: Adela Sun
Poster: Li Tang Community
Photography: THE BLANC
Co-producer: THE BLANC
Written by Huixian Dong
*Huixian Dong, Ph.D., is a curator and art historian specializing in contemporary Asian art.
Media ContactCompany Name: Li Tang Community IncContact Person: Webson JiEmail: Send EmailPhone: 4047476323Address:228 Park Ave S #164818 City: New YorkState: NYCountry: United StatesWebsite: https://litang.community
