Exhibitions
BECOMING/BELONGING: TENNESSEE ASIAN ARTISTS
Tipton-Ashe Galleries / 401 Ashe St., Johnson City, TN November 4 - 25th
Leticia Bajuyo, Nuveen Barwari, Sai Clayton, Sepideh Dashti, Tao Huang, Mable Ni, Sisavanh Phouthavong Houghton, KT Wester, Meng Cheng Collective, Thandi Cai, Lili Nacht, Yidan Zeng
ETSU Department of Art & Design, Slocumb Galleries and Arts & Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville in partnership with Film & Media Studies proudly presents ‘BeComing / BeLonging: Tennessee Asian Artists’ November 4 to 25, 2026 with reception, film showing and artists speak on November 6, First Friday from 5 to 8 pm. Film & Media Studies Director Dr. Matthew Holtmeier will screen the Bluff City Chinese Documentary by Thandi Cai at 5pm, prior to reception at 6 to 8 pm, with guests of honor ETSU Provost Dr. Kimberly McCorkle and Ms. Traci Sisson, of Arts Fund under East Tennessee Foundation.
The exhibition BeComing/BeLonging explores the materiality of the self in the midst of diaspora, displacement, longing and belonging. Artists in the exhibition represent polyphony of visual voices that provide glimpse on the identities tethered to the notion of Asia and Tennessee, both as linchpins, rather than monoliths. The complex dialogue on identity, becoming and belonging are unshrouded, foregrounding each individuals’ whisperings through creative practices.
Curated as part of the Adapted/Adopted exhibition series that reinvestigates the construction and hybridity of self, as paved by the process of diaspora, both voluntary and imposed, like that in cases of transnational refugees, migrants and adoptees. The women and gender expansive individuals in the exhibition all have Asian lineage within the embrace of American families, either as second or third generation Asian Americans, immigrants or naturalized professionals, or adopted youths, most are liminal citizens of in-between cultures.
The ETSU Slocumb & Tipton-Ashe Galleries are sponsored by the ETSU Student Activities Allocation Committee (SAAC), Bravissima! Women Sponsoring the Arts, the Tennessee Arts Commission and Arts Fund from East Tennessee Foundation. Tipton-Ashe Gallery is located at 401 Ashe Street, former Courthouse along Walnut corner of Union St.; with viewing hours Wednesdays and Saturdays 11am to 3pm, Fridays 3 to 7pm, and by appointment. For more information, please email contrera@etsu.edu, visit https://www.etsu.edu/cas/art/g... or follow us on Instagram or Facebook Slocumb Galleries Page.
