Author: Lexi Lai
Date: Spring 2023
Class: Honors English Protest Project
Medium: Graphic Design
Tools: Graphics tool: Adobe PhotoShop
I created this collage to expose the brutality and racism against Asian Americans while demonstrating how we can unite through our collective voice. The composition layers newspaper headlines documenting AAPI violence, stark portraits of victims, and graffiti reading “Remember Vincent Chin” to show this hatred predates the twenty-first century. A celebratory poster of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act is overlaid with a Banksy-style angry businessman looming over a cowering Asian woman.
Creating this piece taught me that art can be a powerful vehicle for expressing passion about social issues and spreading knowledge—this poster became my way to channel outrage into activism and educate others about a crisis demanding attention.
My word art is a self portrait and also a declaration of the manifestations of AAPI hatred.
The following notecards outline steps viewers can put into action to ensure they help make progress towards building awareness against and eliminating AAPI hate.
