Stop Asian Hate: Dragon76 & Lauren YS Coast to Coast
Dragon76 contacted East Village Walls recently to see how he could contribute to the #stopasianhate movement, and there was no hesitation to assist him. A Japanese native, Dragon76 has been living and working in NYC since 2016. He expresses himself through murals, mixing different ethnicities, cultures and messages with his own unique lines and colors, as well as stunning crowds during live paintings and competitions.
After completing the mural on the wall at 75 Chrystie Street, in the middle of Manhattan's Chinatown the duo took the project a step further. To continue to spread this message of solidarity, Dragon76 released the original image as a free download-able poster, available on his page and HERE. A limited run will be made available at BAMBŪ at 124B Hester Street nearby the mural. Stop in for a drink, #supportlocal business, and pick up a free posters from our favorite tea spot in the Chinatown/LES area. One per person please.
Display it, share it, protest with it.
Be the change. Be the voice. Be active.
Do more.
We can all make a difference because it's time to stop the hate.
Awareness, solidarity, action.
@explorechinatown
@welcome.to.chinatown
*Photos by Just_A_Spectator
On the West Coast, Los Angeles is expressing the same sentiments. Our friends at Chop Em Down Films were on location for the creation of a #stopasianhate message from Lauren YS AKA Squid.licker. Check out this FRESH video, purchase a poster with proceeds toward StopAAPIHate and visit her IG for all of the events surrounding this movement!
Stop Asian Hate Crimes // Protect Our Elders1700 Naud St, Chinatown LA Faithfully documented by @chopemdownfilms
Photos by @morgnar for @monsterchildren/@1700naud
As part of the ongoing effort to curb anti-asian hate, raise awareness about the history of the Asian-American Diaspora, Lauren has painted this homage to asian resilience in Chinatown, LA. Painting this piece was also an initiative at which the artist was selling posters of the same image, printed/donated by @staticmedium, to raise funds Lauren's microgrant program: (@squidtropica) which raises funds for queer BIPOC artists, initiated with their partner, @polartropicaWe have, since launching the Stop Asian Hate Crimes image, been able to redistribute funds to three separate queer AAPI artists who are also currently making work confronting anti-asian rhetoric.
Two asiatic tigers buffer an offering of fruit and candles to light ancestral pathways. A georgia peach pays homage to the victims lost in Georgia. Visitors at the Mural Unveiling event brought offerings of fruit, bread, rice, flowers, and letters of love and support for the families of those lost.
STATEMENT FROM THE ARTIST:
"The attacks on Asian-Americans are not a coincidence. The US has long dealt in racist tactics to protect its supremacist underpinnings, and we are seeing the ripples of that legacy, in the victims of misplaced hatred over time, the elders, and the victims in Georgia. The truth is, it's a deeply ingrained practice in the American psyche to look around and pick somebody to scapegoat for things we can't control. Our fear, pandemic, sickness, and try to put a face on that fear. But we are not afraid. We will not let you put that fear on us. We belong here. Asian American stories are our own; we will choose how to tell them, how we are seen, and who we are.
We will do it without the police. If we can all commit to solidarity, kindness & education throughout our communities instead of leaning to racism to inform the way we scapegoat, what if we focused on the systems and structures that create racism in the first place? I have a lot of hope for a world where we protect each other, we give each other power."
Go to stopaapihate.org to learn more about how you can contribute, volunteer or donate to the AAPI community.
