Gray Area: Born a Problem – A Multimedia Exhibition by Paula Te & Edward Gunawan

A multimedia exhibition by artist Paula Te and poet Edward Gunawan, BORN A PROBLEM investigates the invisible historical forces that impact present-day culture, society, politics–and ultimately: our sense of personal flourishing and communal belonging.

In 1965, a CIA-aided military coup marked the beginning of a tumultuous period in Indonesia. The new authoritarian government, perceiving a “Chinese Problem,” initiated a series of anti-Chinese policies from 1967-2000: Chinese language names barred on official documents, Chinese language media and schools shuttered, while public celebrations of cultural festivals such as Chinese New Year were banned.

These exclusionist and forced assimilation laws, echoing the Indian Treaties & the Removal Act, the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, and the Immigration Act of 1924 in the United States, fostered resentment and discrimination that led to massacres and sexual violence against the Indonesian Chinese community in 1965 and 1998.

This multimedia exhibition by artist Paula Te and poet Edward Gunawan (who are both of Chinese Indonesian descent) takes the form of erasure poems based on actual laws from this dark chapter of history. The large-scale interactive installation contains the context behind the redacted text, revealed through augmented reality (AR).

A smaller-scale proof-of-concept display of this work was presented at From the Margins group show at The Fishbowl in Seattle, WA (Feb 2024).

Sun, Apr 28 @ 5:30 – 7:30 pm: Opening Reception
OPENING RECEPTION in celebration of National Poetry Month, featuring
Lee Herrick, current California Poet Laureate
Kim Shuck, 7th San Francisco Poet Laureate
Ayodele Nzinga, current Oakland Poet Laureate
Michelle Lin, co-host