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Transcription: [00:08:46]
[clapping]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
So, I hope that we can get some questions from the audience and maybe you two can stand up a tell a little about your story- where your home is and the terms of this migration thing- and one of the things I like to do is building up on the-the-um [?] and the idea of murals- uh- yeah- how do you express- how do you express your home? How do you express the ideas? Where do the murals themselves- uh- speak to that issue of home and when I get back to you I want you guys to start thinking about your questions, but I want to actually go to Tom. And Tom [stuttering] [?] he's the really art [stuttering] impresionario rapper or stuff like this. But at one time there was, in D.C. china town, a big mural that was a big community project. I don't know if you were involved in it with Harry Chow [inaudible]. Recently, I hear people people talking about- well the gentrification of China Town and then mural is not a part of the Chinese culture in the traditional culture and I'm not sure that's true, but I'm wondering if you can respond to that issue about murals, what it means in terms of community, how do you work together, or is as people said? That was a sort of a funny thing that happened several years ago that the- uh- at the time they were trying- before the [?], so let's talk about that and we then we'll get back to you guys talking about murals and how they represent what you think of it as community and home and if it- if it all.

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 2"}
So as you posed that question- um- it [?] me thinking back to my college days and I was in this group called the Chinese culture club, but there was also another group called Hong Kong 80, there was also a group- Chinese Friendship Association. There was a Chinese group from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and then our group was these ABC- you know, America Boy Chinese- bananas, Twinkies, right- and so we had to go up in front of the student union group because they would only fund one Chinese group and they wanted to find out which one of these groups was the real Chinese student group and we all [?] like what- we're all real, we're all Chinese ethnically, right, our past- and then the Taiwan group and the Chinese group started [?] us and say those guys are not really Chinese, they are from America, they do not know Chinese culture... and I'm like what, ninja please. [background laughter] I didn't say that, but I was like you know what, we're representing and we're showing off to the rest of the student body what we grew up seeing Chinese culture as, so three generations into America, it may be a little bit diluted from the original recipe or-uh- you know- uh- process back in [?] China, but is real to us. This is our reflection of what our grandparents showed us as Chinese Americans or immigrants in this country- and so, not to take anything away from- uh- the mural, but when you said,"Hey,that's not representative of- of Chinese culture," that's what I thought of was- you know what, that's one guy who is ethnically Chinese, raised in the US in china Town and he put up a mural trying to explain maybe what his life evolved from, and so I wouldn't say that wasn't Chinese and represents Chinese Culture. That was one perspective of one guy who was raised in China Town.

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
Ya, so it could be [stuttering] I mean- it could- uh- the person I mentioned [?] is an old tradition of Chinese, but i-it could be that we're not trying to imitate a Chinese culture or identity we are Chinese American, that itself is what we're trying to do and it could come- it could be expressed in different kinds of forms that we're not express in Ming Dynasty or Tong Dynasty. Le- so what do you think about [stuttering] what about murals, paintings, and graffiti. How do you use that to reconcile your heritage, home that [stuttering]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Um [cough] so I always like to think back about where I kind of find-found my style and if you kind of look around you can see some of [mumbling] adorn around the side of-uh- [?] Um- but I work a lot with black and white and [?] where people say and I'm really inspired by Mayan art work which is kind of what I- that was the most Latino I could find growing up here in the D.C. neighbor- D.C. area. I was very inspired by Mexican art- um- Mayan Art, but I was also inspired by tapestries that my mom had in- in- that she brought back from Columbia which also had big bold lines and some cool colors and stuff and very abstract shapes, so something about it just me growing up- I've always been really interested in that kind of artwork and- um- there came a time when I just wanted to kind of make my own and kind of artwork kind of like this [?] abstract indigenous style and-um- and-uh- I've been working it out more and more but-uh- when it comes to me creating my art, it gives me a platform to create something that maybe is-uh- diminishing- maybe we don't see enough indigenous art from a Columbian here in America- um- maybe just at all, you know, so-um- as an artist I kind of have an opportunity to kind of bring back what I feel might be lost, or to just keep something alive- uh- as far as my indigenous heritage- um- so that play a big role in my art and- um- as like indigenous art there's always kind of a story to tell and always a lesson or something- so- um- in my art I find - I try to take advantage of it as much as I can and Kind of tell a message either about family or about nature- about-um- just respecting each other- um- so - uh- my heritage is that I don't really have cause of- I'm adopted from Columbia, but I do have- I try to recreate and-um- it gives me a lot of fulfilment-um- making this artwork-uh- and learning more about my past and everyday I create something, I'll go look back and Kind of- um- always do some studying before I even make a mural or-uh- paint a piece on a box truck made out of the wood at the folklife festival, so yeah.
[00:15:49]