In Memory of AAWAA's Late Co-Founder, Moira Roth

Photo courtesy of Reiko Fujii. Moira Roth (at center) gathered by AAWAA staff, volunteers, interns, and Artists Members for the Annual Holiday & Volunteer Appreciation Party in December 2019.

For the Divine Miss M, Moira Roth

I am lost today

because you passed

several days ago.

Alzheimer’s ravaged

your body, stealing your

radiant eyes, erasing

your smile, which once

expanded every morning

@ Nabolam, the Berkeley

bakery, where you bit into

a morning savory, where

you told stories in a soft

voice, where you read

the New York Times at the

table by the window.

When I visited you at home

I climbed the stairs on which

you had placed many sheets

of writing and where your

collection of paper fans,

including the yellow one

from Festival 2000,

decorated both sides

of the walls.

Up on the first floor, I sat

in the aubergine-painted

living room where you held

court with your gracious

being.

The centerpiece table was set

with delicate cut flowers from

your backyard, in hues of warm

yellow and white, a plate of Brie

(with a cheese knife), crackly

crackers, a blue bottle of water,

and a bottle of wine.

I, an acolyte of advocacy

and resistance, sat there

to learn from you.

We started our conversation

humbly,

and by the end of our time

together, I knew how to tell

my scarred narratives from

the intersections of art and

history with colorful elegance

of the setting sun.

-Flo Oy Wong
AAWAA Co-Founder

June 16, 2021

It is with great sorrow and grief that we announce one of AAWAA's co-founding members and biggest supporters, Moira Roth, passed away on the morning of June 14 while in hospice care. She will always be a major part of our history as a co-founder along with artists Flo Oy Wong and Betty Kano and was always such a major advocate for feminism and women of color artists. As an academic and professor of Art History at Mills College, Moira instilled in us the need to document our art and work from an empowered place, on our own terms. She loved coming out to our events and programs, even as her health started declining. She was always so excited to hear what we were up to, to hear who the new Artist Members were, and to meet with the younger interns and volunteers.

Rest in Power, dear Moira! We will miss you and your bright energy so much. Thank you for everything you have done for AAWAA and our arts communities. Thank you for showing us what it means to be an advocate to women of color and the beauty that results when feminism is truly intersectional. Your light and spirit will always be with us.

MEMORIES, TRIBUTES, AND STORIES OF MOIRA ROTH

If you would like to share a memory, tribute, or message to her, please send them to us at bit.ly/memoriesofmoira or feel free to post them in our comments section below. We will update this post with responses and hope to share them at a future celebration of life for Moira.

I met Moira in 2010 at the reception of an exhibit I was in “Distillations: Meditations on the Japanese American Experience.” In 2012, she encouraged me to put together a catalog of my work. I first declined but, as she would not take “no” for an answer, she gently pushed me to do it and then cracked the whip to finish it in 2016. In the meantime, we became good friends, attending many of the AAWAA and A Place of Her Own exhibits together, as well as attending other events, including lunch and dinners with various friends. Because of her interest in encouraging Asian American women artists, she asked me and other AAWAA members to give talks about our art in her classes at Mills College. Moira was a true advocate, constantly promoting the art of Asian American Women artists. Her brilliance, writings, performances and guidance will continue to inspire generations to come.

-Anonymous