“Add Oil, Chinatown!” Public Art for Community Recovery

Presented by Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco

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“Add Oil, Chinatown!” is an artist sharing series launched during COVID lockdown in 2020 by the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, a community-based art center in SF’s Chinatown, to uplift dialogues on public art and its role in San Francisco communities. How can art play a deep role in enhancing a sense of community? How is art instrumental to fostering connections, empathy, and solidarity? Join us in conversation with emerging and boundary-breaking artists Bijun Liang, Heesoo Kwon, and Helice Wen as we learn more about their artistic and community processes.

During the sharing, each artist will present on their recent collaborative public art projects with community-based organizations and small businesses. After the panel, there will be a Q+A session for the audience. The series’s namesake, 加油 (“gāyáu”) or “Add Oil” is a Cantonese expression used to show support or encouragement.

About the Artists:

Bijun Liang is an interactive media and installation artist from Chinatown San Francisco. Bijun reimagines the everyday to recognize the hidden “!” moments that are often ignored or forgotten.

Helice Wen received a BA Illustration degree from Academy of Art University, San Francisco.  Through her work, Helice uses figures and floral patterns to narrate the intimate, vulnerable, and sensibilities in everyday life.

Heesoo Kwon is a visual artist and anthropologist from South Korea currently based in the Bay Area, California. In 2017, Kwon initiated an autobiographical feminist religion Leymusoom, as an ever-evolving exploration of her family histories and feminist liberation.

About Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco

Chinese Culture Center (CCC) is a non-profit arts organization established in 1965. CCC elevates underserved communities and gives voice to equality through education and contemporary art. Rooted in San Francisco’s Chinatown, CCC is a loud and creative voice to uplift social and economical transformation. We provide a safe environment for artists who champion activism, resiliency, and healthy communities. In doing so, we shift dominant narratives, empower change, and reimagine our futures.

Image Credits: Helice Wen, Youth Unity Mural, 2021, Street view. Courtesy of Chinese Culture Center.