The Silent Unseen Audio Tour: An Embodied Introduction to Asian American History
Events
The Silent Unseen Audio Tour: An Embodied Introduction to Asian American History
The Silent Unseen Audio Tour: An Embodied Introduction to Asian American History offers a space for reflection on diaspora, community, and solidarity within the Asian American community and beyond.
When & Where
The audio tour is available on the Gesso App indefinitely. The tour has a run time of 1.5 hours and is free and open to all.
Launch event with guided tours
May 11, 2024.
Queens Museum, Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
The Silent Unseen Audio Tour: An Embodied Introduction to Asian American History, by ayo ohs. Launch event at the Queens Museum, May 2024. Photo by Ziwei-Ji.
-
About the artist
The Silent Unseen Audio Tour: An Embodied Introduction to Asian American History offers a space for reflection on diaspora, community, and solidarity within the Asian American community and beyond.
Set at the Queens Museum in Flushing Meadows Park, the audio tour traces Asian American histories in the United States, offering a space for reflection on diaspora and community. The tour offers easily accessible education that centers building solidarity within and beyond Asian communities, moving beyond the moniker “Stop Asian Hate” and into a deeper, more grounded understanding of Asian American history.
Guided by narration, the audio tour invites participants to consider feelings, sensations, and the lived experiences of Asian American immigrants in relation to the space and architecture of the museum and Flushing Meadows Park. ayo ohs, along with special guests Betty Yu, Grace M. Cho, Helen Hyun-Kyung Park, Helen Zia, and Julman Tolentino, guide you through a journey of embodiment, somatic contemplation, and family histories.
On May 11, 2024 More Art and the lead artist, ayo ohs, led groups on an activation of the audio tour beginning in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Participants were invited to experience the audio tour in small groups, each starting in 30 minute increments closing with a group gathering and discussion with ayo ohs and Grace Sanghyun Nam. After experiencing the audio tour, participants were invited to leave a story of their own, creating an archive of oral histories and expanding the scope and scale of Asian American history.
The audio tour was conceived in the Engaging Artists’ fellowship at More Art, and developed further through a 5-week art residency at Yaddo. It is inspired by conversations in community, activities with PISAB’s Asian Affinity group, and a lifetime of experiences.
The audio tour is the first part of a multi-tiered larger project by ayo ohs, The Silent Unseen, exploring, unsilencing, and uplifting the voices of the Asian American diaspora.
ayo ohs
ayo (Alicia) Ohs (she/they/A.O.) is a performer, educator, and community builder interested in what makes people laugh, cry, and continue. ayo is currently working on The Silent Unseen, a series of workshops and performances tracing the Asian femme diaspora through untold stories and unheard voices.
As an organizer and anti-racist facilitator, ayo has worked in community-based non-profits including the Audre Lorde Project, MINKA Brooklyn, and is a founding member of Movement Research’s Artist of Color Council. As a performer, they developed the lead role in Andrew Schneider’s AFTER (The Public Theatre), continued as Artistic Director and Community Accountability Coordinator for NERVOUS/SYSTEM (BAM Next Wave), and have toured internationally and throughout the United States in Faye Driscoll’s Thank You for Coming: Attendance (Dancespace) and Play (BAM).
ayo has been teaching yoga for 16 years and is the founder of Anti-Oppression Yoga. They are a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and currently studying Somatic Abolitionism with Resmaa Menakam, and music production at Berklee College of Music Online. They live in Lenapehoking/Brooklyn, NY with their senior pit bull mix.
The Silent Unseen Audio Tour: An Embodied Introduction to Asian American History, by ayo ohs. Launch event at the Queens Museum, May 2024. Photo by Ziwei-Ji.
The Silent Unseen Audio Tour: An Embodied Introduction to Asian American History, by ayo ohs. Launch event at the Queens Museum, May 2024. Photo by Ziwei-Ji.
The Silent Unseen Audio Tour: An Embodied Introduction to Asian American History, by ayo ohs. Launch event at the Queens Museum, May 2024. Photo by Ziwei-Ji.
The Silent Unseen Audio Tour: An Embodied Introduction to Asian American History, by ayo ohs. Launch event at the Queens Museum, May 2024. Photo by Ziwei-Ji.
The Silent Unseen Audio Tour: An Embodied Introduction to Asian American History, by ayo ohs. Launch event at the Queens Museum, May 2024. Photo by Ziwei-Ji.
The Silent Unseen Audio Tour: An Embodied Introduction to Asian American History, by ayo ohs. Launch event at the Queens Museum, May 2024. Photo by Ziwei-Ji.
The Silent Unseen Audio Tour: An Embodied Introduction to Asian American History, by ayo ohs. Launch event at the Queens Museum, May 2024. Photo by Ziwei-Ji.
The Silent Unseen Audio Tour: An Embodied Introduction to Asian American History, by ayo ohs. Launch event at the Queens Museum, May 2024. Photo by Ziwei-Ji.
The Silent Unseen Audio Tour: An Embodied Introduction to Asian American History, by ayo ohs. Launch event at the Queens Museum, May 2024. Photo by Ziwei-Ji.
Co-presented by:
ayo ohs and More Art
With Support From:
Groundworks Space
Yaddo
Community Partners:
Asian Boss Ladies
Chinese Adoptee Alliance
Glow Cultural Center
The Kitchen Project
Tiger Strikes Asteroid New York
Written, narrated, and scored by:
ayo ohs
Mixed and Mastered by: Erica Huang
Fundraising Coordinator: Meghann Trago
Special Guests:
Betty Yu, Grace M. Cho, Helen Hyun-Kyung Park, Helen Zia, Julman Tolentino
To learn more about the audio tour and the subsequent The Silent Unseen project visit thesilentunseenproject.com or follow on Instagram at @thesilentunseenproject.