Harmony Witte

Arts March 16, 2024 0

Interview with Greenway Artists Ponnapa Prakkamakul and Zhidong Zhang

The Greenway Conservancy recently announced two new public art installations that celebrate the Year of the Dragon which will be installed at Auntie Kay and Uncle Frank Chin Park. The installations are Year of the Dragon by Ponnapa Prakkamakul and Far Away, From Home by Zhidong Zhang. Sampan sat down with the two artists to talk about their work, which is part of the annual Chinese Zodiac series. Sampan: What does it mean to you to have your installation on […]

Arts March 2, 2024 0

‘Freckled Rice’ and ‘Our Chinatown’ Explore Chinatown’s Past and Future

Arts Emerson brought back to life the local classic narrative film, “Freckled Rice,” on Feb. 18 at the Bright Family Screening Room over the Paramount Theater in a screening that included the documentary short, “Our Chinatown.” “We have found a diamond that was in someone’s treasure box and unearthed it,” said Susan Chinsen, creative producer at Arts Emerson, who is also the director of the Boston Asian American Film Festival. “Freckled Rice” is the coming-of-age story of a 13-year-old boy […]

Arts March 2, 2024 0

Wu Tsang’s ‘Of Whales’ Lets You Immerse Yourself Into the World of Ocean Life

Of Whales by artist Wu Tsang is a gently calming, fully engrossing exhibit in the heart of the Institute of Contemporary Art– first presented at the Venice Biennale in 2022. On display now until Aug 4th the giant, 40-50ft long screen which displays the piece is in the Paul and Catherine Buttenwieser and Fotene Demoulas Galleries. This major work is premiering in New England in a gallery that is positioned above the Boston Harbor. According to the accompanying museum label, […]

Leisure February 17, 2024 0

‘Expats’: A Disappointing Exploration of Grief

I watched the first season of Expats on Amazon Prime and was sorely disappointed by the quality of the six-episode offering. Directed by Lulu Wang (Posthumous 2014, The Farewell 2019) the show is based on a 2016 novel called The Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee, which received mostly positive reviews. The story follows the lives of a group of expatriates living in Hong Kong and chronicles their interactions with each other, and how they navigate the unfamiliar world around them […]

Leisure January 13, 2024 0

Real Women Have Curves Premieres in a Funny, Poignant, and Memorable Musical

The American Repertory Theater has another big hit in the making with Real Women Have Curves: The Musical! (Book by Lisa Loomer, additional material by Nell Benjamin. The show opened recently to excited crowds and is introducing a new generation of people to the story of big dreamer, Ana Garcia. The musical is significantly different from the 2002 award-winning film (Josefina Lopez and George Lavoo’s screenplay based on the play by Josefina Lopez) in all the right ways. Aside from […]

Arts December 23, 2023 0

Lunchbox Moments Interview with Artist Aime Bantz

Step into the Pao Arts Center in Chinatown before Feb 17th of 2024 and you will be greeted with colorful walls covered in metal lunchboxes with phrases painted on them. The phrases are distilled from stories by people in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community who attended workshops with artist Aime Bantz. She wrote down the encounters they shared with her during communal meal times throughout their lives. Some of these encounters were positive moments of cultural exchange, but […]

Front Page December 9, 2023 0

Artist Tammy Nguyen Asks, ‘What Is A Farm?’

In Tammy Nguyen’s self-titled exhibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, she repeats a question that was originally posed by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “What is a farm but a mute Gospel?” It’s a question that Nguyen is prepared to try to answer through her paintings, collage, and self-published art books in the exhibit. Nguyen is a talented artist, born 1984 in San Francisco.Her father was a Vietnamese refugee. Her work spans several disciplines across environmental, geopolitical, and spiritual […]

Leisure November 18, 2023 0

Sunshine Brings Science to the Screen

The Coolidge Theater screened Sunshine (2007) on November 6th as part of their “Science on Screen” programming, including a talk by Harvard astrophysicist Dr. Katharine Reeves. The talk that accompanied the Sci-fi/horror film was on the topic “What It’s Like to Fly Through a Solar Eruption.” The audience laughed along with Dr. Reeves throughout the entire half-hour presentation as she gave a humorous and accessible lecture to a room full of moviegoers. It provided a nice introduction to the very […]

Leisure November 3, 2023 0

The Fortune Teller is a Heartwarming Play about Family and Destiny

This week, a heartwarming play premiered at the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theaters. The Fortune Teller’s opening night was October 28th and the play runs through November 4th. It’s a story about a family through the generations, starting in the 1800s, and the destiny that lies before each of the members as they are tied together by familial legacy. The play was co-produced by CHUANG Stage, a translingual Asian American theater company in Boston, and TC Squared Theatre […]

Leisure November 3, 2023 0

The Boston Asian American Film Festival Gave Red Carpet Treatment To The Contribution — and Voice — of Asian American Film

Kicking off with a book launch and talk by the authors of The Golden Screen: The Movies That Made Asian America, the Boston Asian American Film Festival celebrated Asian American films in October. Traditional dances were performed by the Wah Lum Kung Fu & Tai Chi Academy and the New England Bhangra Club. “I’m very excited to just hear about the perspectives of the Asian American community within the filming space.” said Chelsea Vuong, 2023 Miss Massachusetts, who acted as […]

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