Project: Right On! A Political Art Series

Wooden plaques painted in various shades of skin tones contain dates and QR codes
Close up image from political art performance in the form of a silent procession through downtown Boulder that took place in October 2022. A man is shown wearing a shirt with the date "February 19, 1923", which signifies the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling legally barring all Indians from becoming U.S. citizens and revoking citizenship from many who had attained it.
Close up image from political art performance in the form of a silent procession through downtown Boulder that took place in October 2022. Each person is wearing a shirt with a skin-toned color square that represents a court case date that traces events that laid the foundation of xenophobic and racist opinions and actions against Asians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders living in America.
Group of people from political art performance is seen wearing a black shirt; back shown is a QR Code. The QR code, if scanned, corresponds to landmark civil rights case.
Right on! participant, Professor Ellen Do, Atlas Institute
Asian Americans walk in a political art action to stop asian hate. Participants have a date on their shirt to signify a date of supreme court landmark cases targeting Asians in America. May 6, 1882 is visible on first participant's shirt.
Angie Eng, who is the organizer of the event, is scene in red and black with a shirt marking the date "May 6, 1882".
Participants hang posters on a space outside. The posters have dates with the hashtag "stop asian hate". Date visible is March 3, 1885.
Group of people from political art performance is seen wearing a black shirt; back shown is a QR Code. The QR code, if scanned, corresponds to landmark civil rights case.
Skin-toned square on black t-shirt with date, "January 21, 1974" shown. This date represents the date that under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a California school district receiving federal funds must provide non-English-speaking students with instruction in the English language to ensure that they receive an equal education.

Photo Credits: Megan King, Video Content Specialist Boulder Center for Humanities & the Arts; , Artist, Student at University of Colorado Boulder.

Project Description

At the height of the BLM movement and the rise in Asian hate crimes in 2020, conceptual artist, Angie Eng developed her civil rights series ‘!’ Wooden plaques painted in various shades of skin tones contain dates and QR codes. The dates refer to landmark Supreme court cases tracing systemic discrimination based on class, race, ethnicity, gender, and ability. The QR codes lead to a site that describes each court case decision. The form of the 12” x 12” plaque with just a date is an homage to the conceptual artist, On Kawara and his Today Series. Two years later with a Stop Asian Hate initiative by the Center of Humanities at the University of Colorado, Boulder, the artist led a political art action through the main street of Boulder with a group of locals identifying as Asian, or AAPI. Every block they posed in silence for a few minutes as living billboards to transform hate into compassion through education and activism.

the Artist

Angie Eng, artist, shown holding one of the wooden plaques in front of the Museum of Boulder. The date shown on plaque is January 22, 1973. This date signifies the supreme court case Roe V Wade
is an intermedia artist and educator who works in experimental video, socially engaged art, conceptual art, and time-based media. Although trained as an abstract painter she moved in 1993 to New York City to experiment with art forms that include technology. During that early period of her career, she became known as part of the downtown electronic arts scene of the 1990s.She has received over fifty grants, commissions, and residencies and has presented her work worldwide. She has 20 years of experience in art education, designing and implementing art programming in human service organizations. She holds a Ph.D. in Kosmorganic aesthetics at Boulder. During her time in a small mountain town, she spearheaded a cultural community arts leadership organization, Creative Catalyzers. She currently teaches at NYU Tandon Integrated Design and Media department and is working on her teaching methodology book, The Integral Lab, to enhance community, creativity, and compassion in the fractured classroom.