In May, supporters of LACMA's Asian & Asian Diaspora Initiative (LAADI) gathered in Los Angeles for the group's inaugural annual gathering. Over two days, artists, curators, collectors, and supporters came together for conversations, gallery tours, studio visits, and shared meals centered around a common goal: advancing Asian and Asian diasporic art at LACMA. LAADI was created to build a community around these artists and their stories, expanding their representation within the museum's collection, exhibitions, and programs.
Throughout the weekend, participants engaged directly with the people, ideas, and histories shaping this work today. The gathering began at LACMA with a curatorial forum highlighting five upcoming exhibitions focused on Asian and Asian diasporic art, including a landmark group exhibition of major Korean diasporic artists, the first U.S. solo exhibition of South Asian artist Bharti Kher, and a survey of Asian American modernism.
Participants also toured the David Geffen Galleries with Clarissa Esguerra, curator of Costume and Textiles, and Susie Ferrell, Wynn Resorts Associate Curator of Chinese and Korean Art, whose insights illuminated the collaborative vision behind the museum's new home for its permanent collection. LAADI supporters have contributed two commissions featured in the inaugural installation: Lu Yang's DOKU: Yama Māyā (2026), a video work on view alongside examples of historic pan-Asian Buddhist art and objects, and Stephanie Shih's photographic work 梅國 (Still life with chamoy and Dirty T Tamarindo) (2025–26), which incorporate blue-and-white ceramics from LACMA’s permanent collection illustrating the exchange of art and ideas between East to West.
The weekend continued with visits to the studios of Los Angeles–based artists led by Crazy Rich Asians author Kevin Kwan. At dosa, the textile studio and project founded by designer Christina Kim, guests learned about her decades-long commitment to preserving traditional craft practices and supporting artisan communities across Asia. Kim shared her research-driven approach to design, drawing on longstanding collaborations with textile makers, dyers, weavers, and embroiderers, and the ways dosa bridges contemporary fashion, sustainability, and cultural stewardship.
Kelly Akashi welcomed guests into her new studio, relocated after the 2025 Altadena fires, and reflected on how the experience reshaped both her community and artistic practice through new and salvaged materials.
Ben Tong discussed how memories of growing up in Canada, alongside his family history and cultural identity, inform his paintings, providing insight into his intuitive approach to image-making, from which luminous landscapes and everyday scenes emerge through layered color and gesture, blurring the boundaries between observation and memory.
Adam de Boer spoke candidly about reconnecting with his Indonesian heritage and learning traditional batik techniques with artists in Yogyakarta. Adapting these methods to contemporary subjects, his work explores the complexities of diasporic identity in Southern California. The visit concluded with a batik workshop, giving LAADI supporters firsthand experience with the intricacy of the wax-resist process.
Across these conversations emerged a shared recognition of the importance of visibility, support, and connection. For many artists, representation within museum collections and exhibitions is deeply meaningful as recognition of artistic significance as well as part of a broader effort to preserve and share Asian and Asian diasporic stories.
As the inaugural gathering came to a close, participants left with a deeper understanding of the artists and communities at the heart of LAADI's mission, which reaffirms that museums are built not only through collections and exhibitions, but through people like the artists, curators, collectors, and supporters of LAADI committed to Asian and Asian diasporic art at LACMA and beyond.