BROWN PALMS, YELLOW BALMS

Reinventing Caregivers of Color

EXHIBITION CO-Presented by AAWAA & Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center (APICC) for THE 28TH ANNUAL UNITED STATES OF ASIAN AMERICA FESTIVAL

opening reception
april 24 @ 6-9pm

Closing reception
May 25 @ 1-3pm

(scroll down to Exhibition Programs for more info)

Exhibition ON VIEW
April 25 - May 25, 2025

Location
SOMArts Cultural Center - Main Gallery
934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

SOMARTS GALLERY Hours
THURSDAYS, 3:00-7:30PM
Friday, 12:00–7:30 PM
Saturday - Sunday, 12:00–5:00PM

Can brown palms and yellow balms cure the planet’s deepest wounds? The caregiver— she who opens a newborn's eyes and closes the eyes of the dying—remains overwhelmingly female and disproportionately a person of color. Fate casts Asian and Asian American women into a culture of service, entrapping them as designated doulas, named nannies, and overburdened overseas workers—sacrificial figures dissolving self for the sake of family. The gender bias is familiar; the lopsided burden these women are expected to bear not examined enough.

The Brown Palms, Yellow Balms: Reinventing Caregivers of Color exhibition unfolds in ever-expanding circles of caregiving, mirroring the Buddhist Metta practice—beginning with the body as the most intimate site of care and spiraling outward to embrace family, community, collective archetypes, deities, and the environment.

Immerse yourself in depictions of nurturing, nursing, birthing, mothering, mending, comforting, restoring, resuscitating, protecting, soothing, cheering, reclaiming, and empowering—not just the Self, but Society and the Cosmos—all viewed through the lens of AAPI cultural heritage, history, and socio-political landscapes.

Celebrate with us the ancestral wisdom and cultural practices, poultices and potions, talismans and taboos, superstitions and spiritual practices, deities and demons that keep our spirits fierce, shape our bonds, and keep both humanity and the planet afloat.

-O.M. France Viana, Lead Artist & Curator

Artwork credit: Self Portrait with Jasmines, Sweetpeas, and Woman and Child (detail) by Fatima Ronquillo
© Fatima Ronquillo

VIP Curator Walkthrough & Press Preview

Thursday, April 24, 5-6PM
@somarts cultural center, sf

A sneak peak of the show before it opens to the public with a guided tour by curator and lead artist, O.M. France Viana. Invited guests will be among the first to interact with the exhibition’s site-specific installations and meet some of the artists.

*Invite-Only*

Opening Reception & USAAF 2025 Kick-off Celebration

THURSDAY, April 24, 6-9PM
@ SOMARTS CULTURAL CENTER, SF

Meet some of the 35+ gallery and 21 virtual Asian and Asian American artists involved in the exhibition and the AAPI producing artists of this year’s United States of Asian America Festival: Critical Refuge! Plus join us for an artist activation by Kimberly Acebo Arteche and poetry reading by Nellie Wong.

The AAWAA Merch Shop will be open with products for sale benefitting the artists in the exhibition alongside a pop-up by health and wellness company Malaya Botanicals.

Reception will include a cash bar and refreshments. Free and open to the public with registration.

Artwork credit: Ascension Novena (Shroud of Turon) by Allison Hueman

Closing Reception

Sunday, May 25, 1-3PM
SOMARTS CULTURAL CENTER, SF

To close out the exhibition, join us for a culinary ritual of serving daal chawal by artist Zara Ahmed.

The AAWAA Merch Shop will be open with products for sale benefitting the artists in the exhibition alongside a pop-up by health and wellness company Malaya Botanicals.

Other light refreshments will be provided and includes a cash bar. Free and open to the public with registration. The gallery will be open until 5PM.

Artwork credit: Whirlpool by Gericault Dela Rose