The Art in the Legislature program is a partnership between the Michigan Association of State Universities (MASU) and the Michigan Legislature to promote art in everyday life. The program displays and celebrates the work of talented student-artists from Michigan’s 15 public universities each year, and has been doing so for the last 18 years. The student-artwork’s work is displayed in the Anderson House Office Building, or the Binsfeld Senate Building, for one year.
American Peony by Shannon Zheng
When the “Asian culture” simulacrum is prioritized over the reality of racialized violence against Asian-presenting femme bodies, we become the absent referent. To those who read this as a representation of what it means to be Asian-American, this painting suffers, existing in a perpetual hyperreality of scrambling to represent a false racial monolith.
Reinterpreting the Paj Ntaub (story cloth): A Retrospectrum From a Hmong-American by Mellisa Lee
The Hmong are an ethnic minority group indigenous to various hill tribes in Southeast Asia. Since the American CIA’s Secret War in Laos—which took place within the Vietnam War, the Hmong have been among one of the most recent Asian ethnic groups to immigrate to America. This project aims to highlight the untold histories of the Hmong and their journey to establish a life in America, particularly under policies that have disproportionately put the Hmong in economic insecurity. My painting is largely based on traditional Hmong story cloths called—Paj Ntaub (pahn-dau), which are embroidered records of the Hmong people’s history of war, persecution, genocide, and immigration. Using oil paint, I reinterpret what the story cloth would look like for future Hmong-Americans like myself, as a way to create visibility for the Hmong within the larger Asian American diaspora. Especially during a time where Asian American representation is extremely vital, as a result of anti-Asian hate crimes and xenophobia.
Secrets by Bryan Wilson
The piece is titled “Secrets” it is an exploration of gossip. Gossip is something that is often looked down upon yet we find ourselves doing so often and so intrigued to be a part of, almost like a guilty pleasure. The skeleton in this image is the “gossiper” spreading information to the subject. The subject is also receiving information from another end, being the phone. Similar to the skeleton, anyone could be on the other side of the phone giving any information. This painting explores the moral code of gossip. What makes it wrong and why do we do it?