APAture is Kearny Street Workshop’s annual multidisciplinary arts festival for emerging Asian Pacific American artists in the Bay Area. This year’s theme is “Autonomy'': as we continue to face the challenges of an ongoing pandemic and the cruel realities of socioeconomic disparity, how do our communities find autonomy in our art, in our practices, in our lived experiences. Come celebrate your autonomy at APAture THRIVE, our Music, Performing Arts, and Comics, Zines, and Illustrations showcase! There will be live music and performances and an artist alley of local emerging Asian Pacific American artists!
Curated by Connor Carroll, Paula Mirando, Jackson Wright, Want Chyi, Sam Lee, Dawn Angelicca Barcelona, Marisa Lin, Ivy Chen, Mark Flores, Jasmine Liang, Lucie Pereira, Jingyu Li, Jerry Dear, Angel Angeles
TICKETS
Tickets are free but we are accepting sliding scale donations
PERFORMER LINE-UP
Rocky G
Rocky G was born and raised in the DC Metropolitan until he moved to the Bay Area at 18 years old. After a year break from school, Rocky began attending San Francisco State University, where he later got his degree in film. It was at SF State where Rocky was introduced to Filipino American Literature, and fell into the Ethnic studies rabbit hole, serving in communities such as the Pinoy/Pinay Educational Partnerships, teaching at Balboa High School. Now currently living in LA, Rocky seeks to expose his music to a bigger audience, but will always come back to the Bay whenever called to.
Michael Trung Nguyen
Michael is an American-born queer community organizer and drag
activist. He co-founded Queer and Transgender Asian and Pacific
Islander (QTAPI) Week in 2021 in response to the wave of violence
against Asian Americans and the lack of response in the LGBTQ+
community to address it. He represents the GLBTQ+ Asian Pacific
Alliance (GAPA) on the LGBTQI+ Advisory Committee of the San
Francisco Human Rights Commission and fights against injustice
through words and drag.
Alder Duan Hurley
Alder Duan Hurley is a trans nonbinary mixed-race poet who grew up
between Maryland and the Bay Area. They’ve performed their spoken
word poetry at the Brava Theater Cabaret and the Gunn Theater at
the Legion of Honor. They are an incoming MFA student in Creative
Writing at SF State.
Mr. Bub
Mr. Bub is an SF-based collaborative project between the
independent API artist, Alex Togashii and Toomi. Together they write,
produce, and perform bedroom, indie pop songs that have
culminated in a debut EP, "Hello, Mr. Bub." Since, the release, they've
performed in different spaces around San Francisco and they're
currently working on a new project!
mayx
My name is mayx (pronounced like 'makes') and I am a music maker
and a music educator. I was born, raised, and have lived almost all of
my life in the Bay Area (specifically South Bay and the Peninsula). I
am a guitar-centric composer and songwriter focused on queer love,
queer spacetime, experimental form, and recording community
histories. I also support younger folks with gaining confidence in
music and recording skills.
annamacan
annamacan is a guitarist/songwriter based in the Bay Area. She has
been performing in the Bay for years, but started performing under
the pseudonym "annamacan" in 2022. Recently, she's performed at
events such as the Project Pearls fundraiser in San Francisco,
Jeepney Jam in San Jose, and Chase Love's summer fundraiser for
the homeless.
Erin Lee
I am from the East Bay Area and currently attending UC Berkeley,
majoring in Art Practice. My artworks mainly focus on videography,
photography and music making that reflect one's culture and identity.
Comics & Zines
REALSOUL
I am a third generation Chinese American, born and raised in San
Francisco. I've been teaching Asian American Studies at City College
of San Francisco and San Francisco State University while working
within Asian American art organizations in the Bay Area. Currently,
my art takes form as REALSOUL, formerly This Asian American Life,
where I intertwine stories of Asian America and communities of color
through illustrations and curriculum development.
Seewoo Lee
I'm a Korean Canadian comic artist. I've made small self published
comics for a few years now, and am currently in the MFA comics
program at CCA, just about to finish by the end of July.
Lin Jiang
Hi! I'm Lin Jiang, an illustrator, and cartoonist based in San
Francisco. I came from Beijing, China, and have lived in the US for
five years. I have completed my BFA in Illustration at the School of
Visual Arts, and soon I'll graduate from the MFA Comics program at
California College of the Arts. At the same time, I have self-published
several indie comics and zines and made arts for commissions.
Althea J Solis
ALTHEA (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist and writer who primarily
focuses on the subjects of science fiction and queer identity, told
through the mediums of comics, paintings, and poetry. His work has
previously been showcased at Queer As Fuck! at Bindlestiff Studios
and the Ignatz Award-winning anthology _We're Still Here: An All-
Trans Anthology_. He currently nurtures this art practice while
working as a web developer for California College of the Arts.
Zareen Choudhury
Zareen Choudhury is a Bangladeshi American cartoonist who was
born and raised in the Bay Area and currently resides in San
Francisco. Her cartoons and comics have been published in The New
Yorker, The Nib, Awry Comics, and Inglezine. She is an active
member of San Francisco's urban sketching community and hopes
to continue immersing herself in the local arts scene.
Ivan Zhao
ivan (he/him) is a dog lover and bread baker raised in bellevue, wa.
he's previously done standup in various bars, bartended at a few
gigs, and building interactive web experiences. right now, he's
probably drinking iced lattes and banging at his computer
Twice Cooked Zines
We are best friends who love collaborating on art and writing projects. We think a lot about language, our heritage, and how it affects our place in the world. Jingyu is based in Mountain View, CA and Holly is in Brooklyn, NY.