Youth works in spotlight at Oakland Asian Cultural Center art show

Sydney Seibold uses art to tell stories about her experience as an Asian American. 

Seibold, 16, a student at Gateway to College, was born in Tokyo to a Thai parent and immigrated to Oakland at age 3. Her boldly colored drawing of the yak, a figure in Thai culture that sits in front of sacred buildings to protect them from spiritual threats, is one of 50 digital and photographic works in the Oakland Asian Cultural Center’s 10th annual youth art show “Fresh Off the Block.”

The show was hosted earlier this month by Asian Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership, an organization focused on school and neighborhood reform for Oakland’s Asian American and Pacific Islander families. But the works will be displayed until Jan. 6, and include art by 17 high school students, primarily from the API community.

Seibold’s art, made with paint pens on paper and digital scanning, features a graffiti-covered wall behind the yak, along with the Bay Bridge, the Tribune Tower, and the Fox Theater — a nod to her upbringing in Oakland.

“When you are born in two different cultures, or you were born in one culture and raised in another, it’s really hard to find a direct definition of home,” Seibold said. “Going to Thailand, I’m not really considered Thai enough, but out here, I’m not really considered fully American.”

Founded in 1998 as a response to increasing gang activity, truancy and substance abuse among low-income API youth, AYPAL hosts workshops on political education and community empowerment. The organization also encourages Oakland’s API youth to share their stories and highlight issues in their communities, such as gentrification and connecting to their Asian  American roots through cultural art activism.

Arts activism is an easier medium for youth to be involved in a politically active way, says Bao Vang, a site coordinator for AYPAL. 

“There’s a lot that can be said through art that you can’t necessarily express through words and actions. So showing it through art is a different type of expression that is not always seen,” Vang said. 

This year’s theme, “Lost in Translation,” focuses on preserving aspects of API culture that have been lost over generations.

Joao Lee Ramirez, 16, a sophomore at Oakland High School, has two photos in the exhibit. One is of Chinese restaurants and shops, with awnings containing Chinese characters and murals, and graffiti in English. Another shows a box of grapes, among other produce, in a bright green container with a logo printed in English, text printed in Spanish and a price tag hand-written with Chinese characters.

The photographs, taken in Oakland Chinatown, capture the diversity of culture in Oakland and how different languages intersect, and show his appreciation for what has not been lost.

“Art is very powerful and has a lot of potential as a means to educate and empower people,” Lee Ramirez said. 

Tickets available for Oakland Ballet’s ‘Nutcracker’ this weekend: ‘My message to our community is, we need you. We want you.’