“It feels like we are on this high-speed carousel, being flung in circles, moving from one tragedy to the next and we can’t quite grasp onto our seat before we are focused on the next group of people who are hurting and suffering," Dominique Fung summarizes the perpetuating reality we've been experiencing, a realization that eventually led her towards co-curating a benefit auction Artists Against Anti-Asian Violence. Up on Artsy until June 30th, the project was realized in partnership with The Here & There Collective (THAT), and aside from raising funds for the two organizations working to secure a better future for the AAPI community, it aims to show solidarity against anti-Asian violence and xenophobia.
And while government institutions struggle to find the quick and efficient way to respond to the rise of gut wrenching attacks, the artworld once again steps forward with a firm action that both shows the power of unity and supports those that are working on changing the current narrative. "We need to resist people and systems that perpetuate hate and practice violence against marginalized groups," Fung explained the motivation and end goal of this effort. "It’s time to work together to create positive change no matter how large or small."
And "working together" surely resulted in a strong effort which is currently unraveling through social media and gaining traction over at Artsy, as part of their atest iteration of their Art Keeps Nonprofits Going benefit auctions, which aims to unite the art world and industry at large. Besides raising money for two important non-profits Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (https://www.aaldef.org/) and Heart of Dinner (https://www.heartofdinner.org/), the project will contribute to the much needed awareness raising about the issue. Featuring many artists we've been featuring in Juxtapoz over the years, we're bringing you a selection of donated pieces you can auction for or simply share through your social media in order to help out this commendable effort. —Sasha Bogojev
