Envisioning Diaspora Asian American Visual Arts Collectives: From Godzilla, Godzookie, to the Barnstormers

This timely volume is the first to cover the post-90s wave of New York-based, Asian-American art collectives including Basement Workshop, Godzilla: Asian American Art Network, Godzookie and the Barnstormers. Envisioning Diaspora puts these groups into an art-historical context, focusing on the impact that the 1960s Asian-American art movement has had in the U.S. and internationally through interviews and never-before-published archival images. Curator, filmmaker and arts writer Alexandra Chang traces the term "Asian American," which began as an outgrowth of the late-1960s civil rights movement and has become integrated into the contemporary mainstream multicultural discourse. She examines the formation of artist collectives, delving into the identity politics, aesthetics and diaspora of Asian-American art. Dynamically designed by Jonathan Lo, the book includes three custom bookmarks and a cover that flips out to reveal a full-color image of an artwork by Barnstormer Kenji Hirata, photographed by the artist GION.