Cuteness is an aesthetic intertwined with daily life and deeply connected with notions of femininity, particularly for the Asian diaspora and those within Asia for whom cuteness is a prolific aesthetic- a part of their everyday life.
While the aesthetic is omnipresent in domestic products, media, and in spoken vernacular, it is often disregarded as kitsch, fetishized, or low brow. In relation to the geopolitics of East Asia, cuteness has become a critical tool of implementing “soft power” strategy and yet at the same time it has been used in the West to stereotype or infantilize those of Asian descent.
Join GYOPO on Thursday, August 10, for a conversation with artists Christina Yuna Ko, Lulu Yao Gioiello, and Amy Yao, moderated by curator Sophia Park. Together, they will explore the complexity of this tangible, emotion-forward, and affective aesthetic as share their views on “the cute” and how they have adopted this language in their work.
Beginning with short presentations by each participant, this program aims to complicate and add nuance to what is considered cute and to present it as a language that is rich, complex, and significant.
This program is free and ASL Interpretation will be provided.