A Single Heart Can Transform a Nation

Emma Kalanikaumakaʻamano Kaleleonālani Naʻea Rooke was Queen of Hawai'i from 1856 until 1863. After the death the King Kamehameha IV, she became queen dowager.

In 1958, Miyoshi Umeki became the first Asian actor to win an Oscar for her role in the film Sayonara.  At the end of her career in Hollywood, she became well known for her role as Mrs. Livingston on the popular television show The Courtship of Eddie’s Father. 

The 1960 film The World of Suzie Wong heralded the acting debut of Nancy Kwan. The first Asian American actress since Anna May Wong to become a veritable Hollywood star, Kwan went on to establish her own production company. In her later years, she became an AIDS activist. 

Since 1981, Anna Sui has been a mainstay of the fashion world. Her eye-catching designs, shown in the background of this portrait, eventually earned her the 2009 Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA).

Peabody and Emmy award-winning television journalist and host Hyunju "Juju" Chang has been an anchor for ABC News since 1996. This portrait is from artist CYJO’s KYOPO project, a series of over 200 portraits that defy the notion of a singular Korean American identity.  

Born in London, Jhumpa Lahiri moved with her family to Rhode Island at age two. A prolific writer, Lahiri became a voice of the South Asian immigrant experience in the United States with her debut short story collection, The Interpreter of Maladies (1999).

This caricature of Lahiri accompanied a review of her novel The Namesake (2003). While the author’s pose and attire point to stereotypical representations of her South Asian identity, the laptop affirms her passion for prose and her chosen weapon for countering stereotypes.

As a student at Yale University, Maya Lin redefined conventional notions of war memorials with her design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (1982). Karin Sander’s diminutive 3-D scanned portrait reflects the architect’s sense of herself as a small part of a global environment. 

Shahzia Sikander, known for her mastery of drawing and sophisticated layering of materials, often explores the traditions of Indo-Persian miniature painting. This self-portrait offers powerful, complex, and nuanced insight into her Muslim American identity.

The stories in this exhibition provide just a glimpse of the numerous contributions that Asian American and Pacific Islander women have made to U.S. history and culture. They remind us to follow Anna Sui’s advice to “focus on [our] dreams, even if they go beyond common sense.”