Kavad: Revealing Our Lives and Histories
How do you tell our story? For immigrants, the answer may not be a straight line. For Asian American poets, our histories may involve teasing out the hidden faces of a box, mysteries recognized and uncovered.
Kavad is a multi-faceted community-based storytelling program comprised of community interviews, public readings, educational workshops, online media, and new creative writing by Asian American poets.
In the "kavad," a three-dimensional form of traditional Indian storytelling, a box unfolds to reveal the secrets of a particular story. With the kavad's symbolic revelations and focus on engaging audiences, we have chosen it as the central metaphor for this program as we partner across communities and generations of Asian Americans in the telling of a collective – and sometimes forgotten – Asian American story.
Kavad is the only program of its kind in the country and is of particular significance in that it not only employs ethnological modes of preserving Asian American history but also helps to re-create and re-invigorate our communities and histories through creative work and community dialogue. Through Kavad, Kundiman brings forward the poet as witness, historian, and social activist to further an art that matters.
A Kavad for Remembering 9/11: Together We Are New York
"The sense of urgency to write often comes from a place of necessity – to discover truth, to challenge the simplification of stories." (Hossannah Asuncion)
The 10th anniversary of 9/11 will bring an outpouring of emotions and remembrances: this project ensures, through community interviews by poets and poetic responses, that Asian American community voices are presented, shared, and a vital part of the fabric of our city memory and our nation’s journey forward.
Though time has been swift, our memories of 9/11 and its aftermath remain indelible, profound, and visceral. As New York City – and our nation – prepares for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 in 2011, Kundiman seeks to ensure that this historic anniversary includes public remembrances and the vital voices of a key marginalized community fundamentally transformed by the tragedy: Asian Americans. Kundiman will bring the poet’s ear and vision to a unique community history and public remembrance arts project: “Together We Are New York: Asian Americans Remember and Re-Vision 9/11.”
The poet has an integral role in recording difficult periods of our lives. In fact, immigrant poets are an essential voice for ensuring our histories are not erased. Asian American poets have captured the experiences of Chinese American railroad workers, Japanese American internment camp survivors, and more recently, South Asian and Muslim communities facing scrutiny and violence in the aftermath of 9/11. To ensure we remember the diverse communities affected by 9/11, Kundiman poets will interview Asian American community members on their experiences on 9/11 and the decade since. This material will be crafted into a series of public readings in September 2011 and beyond. This project uniquely combines historical documentation with artistic production & public engagement in the context of a vital moment in history.
As the leading organization for Asian American poetry and poets, Kundiman seeks to ensure our communities have voice in this key moment in U.S. history. At Kundiman we believe our community voices will not only bring healing and hope within our community but also foster much-needed light and new understanding to the wider New York City and national community in order to enable a road forward – for all of us together.
The project will add to the texture of 9/11 remembrances while enabling the public to engage with Asian Americans as Americans as well as the difficult issues of hate crimes, religious tolerance, and civil rights. Furthermore, the poems will be available for future generations to mark how this moment in history has had such diverse legacies – and how we can respond as one community in the strongest diverse, inclusive spirit of New York City and the United States.
Special Encore Performance & Dialogue: December 18, 2011, 7-9 p.m.
Featured poets include Marlon Esguerra, April Naoko Heck, Eugenia Leigh, Zohra Saed, and Purvi Shah
Chen Dance Theater
70 Mulberry St., 2nd Floor
New York, NY (Chinatown)
FREE and open to the public
Prior Performances & Dialogues: Sept. 13 and 28, 2011
Featured poets included Hossannah Asuncion, Tamiko Beyer, Marlon Esguerra, April Naoko Heck, Eugenia Leigh, Bushra Rehman, Zohra Saed, Purvi Shah, and R.A. Villanueva.
Our September launch was hosted by Fordham University at Lincoln Center and our Brooklyn show in late September took place at the Blue Gem Room at the Paul Robeson Theater. About 200 attendees came to these initial performances!
To see a slideshow of our launch performance, click here.
For more information or to support Together We Are New York, contact Artistic Director Purvi Shah at purvis@kundiman.org.
Kundiman thanks the Brooklyn Arts Council, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts for your valuable partnerships! Check out the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's information on this Kundiman program here.