We Belong
We Belong installed publicly at the 2021 Little Manila Block Party on 70th Street and Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside, Queens. Photo credit: Rocco Cetera.
In partnership with the organizers of No Longer Invisible, the Queens Museum displayed collectively hand-painted banner, signs, and video documentation created for the multi-racial, multi-faith vigil and community gathering in response to the recent and ongoing attacks against Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities.
In preparation for the gathering, Queens Museum invited Little Manila Queens Bayanihan Arts to lead a collective banner-making workshop. The banner, centered around the concept of ‘We Belong’, invited multi-lingual participation and took inspiration from the rich culture of hand-painted and highly vibrant signs in the neighborhood of Flushing, and other immigrant neighborhoods throughout New York City. The Queens Museum’s Teens program, staff and visitors of the museum contributed to the production of the banner and/or to make their own personalized signs to speak out against xenophobia, racism and violence against AAPI communities.
We Belong was also installed publicly at the inaugural Little Manila Block Party on October 2, 2021. The intention was to encourage solidarity between the Filipino community and the neighboring diasporic Asian communities in Queens.
PROJECT TEAM
Jaclyn Reyes
Xenia Diente
NOTES
Inspiration for We Belong
Jaclyn Reyes’s Speech from the No Longer Invisible Vigil and Gathering
