Exhibition

Take a journey through Dunhuang, an ancient oasis connecting peoples and cultures, where the sights and sounds come to life through stories, music, tactile objects, an interactive discovery map, an intergenerational reading area, and highlights from the museum’s collection. With enhanced accessibility and innovative design features, Crossroads aims to inspire curiosity, build empathy, and catalyze connections.

Adults – $10, Seniors, Students, and Educators – $7, Children and Members – Free.
The second Sunday of each month – Free

The exhibition brings together artists Michael Massenburg, Aiseborn, and Mr. B Baby to explore the intersections of family,
culture, and community. Curated by Guillermo Aviles-Rodriguez, PhD., the works will be on view Wednesday to Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., from April 13 to August 2024, with a reception/artist talk and performance by Nedra Wheeler Trio taking place Sunday, June 9 at 1:00 p.m. Admission is free.

Cover image: Helping Families Grow, by Michael Massenburg, Aiseborn, and Mr. B Baby located at Kaiser Permanente Watts Counseling and Learning Center

Mark Bradford’s 150 Portrait Tone, a mural-size composition that contains elements of both abstraction and realism, is based on an idea for a work that the artist conceived after the fatal shooting of Philando Castile by a police officer in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in July 2016. Castile, a nutrition services supervisor at an elementary school, was shot after being pulled over in his car—an incident that was livestreamed on Facebook by Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, who was sitting in the passenger seat next to him.

The painting features excerpts of Reynolds’s dialogue from the video. The title, 150 Portrait Tone, refers to the name and color code of the pink acrylic used throughout the painting. Like the now-obsolete “flesh” crayon in the Crayola 64 box (renamed “peach” in 1962), the color “portrait tone” carries inherent assumptions about who, exactly, is being depicted. In the context of Bradford’s painting, the title presents a sobering commentary on power and representation.

A narration of Chinese immigration to the U.S. with an emphasis on community settlement in Los Angeles. The exhibition is outlined into four distinct time periods, each period defined by a vital immigration law and event, accompanied by a brief description and a short personal story.

This is a recreation of a store housed in the Garnier Building in the 1890s. The Sun Wing Wo store opened in 1891 and remained in this building until 1948. The store was a multi-purpose space that showed how self-sufficient the Chinese were and had to be due to racism and discrimination while also being responsive to the needs of their community. Even though the store predominantly served the Chinese, people from every facet of society also came to purchase Chinese merchandise.