Asia Society Transformed Into Night Market for Exhibition Openings

To mark the opening of Asia Society’s fall exhibitions that highlight the creative labor of women textile makers, the Texas Center will host a special “night market” on November 7, from 6:00 – 9:00 pm. Influenced by the vibrant energy of street markets found throughout Asia, the family-friendly evening will feature Asian-inspired food, hand-crafted, fair-trade goods, music, and more.

To date, participating food vendors include: Best of Filipiniana, Caphin, Goro & Gun, Greenway Coffee, Flip 'n Patties, It’s a Wrap, Juice It Raw!, Melange Creperie, MuSuBi, and Nougat Desserts & Confections. Urban Harvest Farmers Market vendors include: Big Creek Farms, Orchid Obsession, Pat Greer’s Kitchen, Texas T Kobe, LLC, The Utility Research Garden, and yaya’s RAW Rah, LLC.

Asia Society Night Market co-hosts, The Community Cloth, She Has Hope, and Ten Thousand Villages, will sell hand-crafted, fair-trade goods made by girls and women from Southeast Asia. She Has Hope will feature goods made by women recovering from lives of forced prostitution and human trafficking.

Night Market guests will be entertained by the sounds of renowned Houston DJ and Soular Grooves radio host DJ SUN, while magician David Rangel wows the crowd with his sleight of hand tricks.

Asia Society Members and guests may register for a complimentary Express Pass, valid for priority entry at the opening reception for Weavers’ Stories from Island Southeast Asia, located in the Louisa Stude Sarofim Gallery.

Express Pass Registration

Express Pass priority entry to Weavers' Stories from Island Southeast Asia is sold-out, but general admission is free and open to the public. No ticket is required.

About the Exhibitions

Between History and New Horizons:
Photographs of Women, Work And Community in Laos

For most of the over 100 distinct ethnic groups found in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, textile making has long been considered the domain of women. What constitutes women’s labor in a rapidly changing economy and how do women depict their roles in it? Consisting of professional portraits as well as personal photographs, Between History and New Horizons provides an all-too-infrequent glimpse of contemporary Laos, the perspectives of ethnic women, and the transformation of traditional skills into modern livelihoods.

Co-organized with the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre, Luang Prabang, Laos, and with the cooperation of PhotoForward.

Weavers’ Stories from Island Southeast Asia

Weavers and batik makers speak for themselves in videos recorded at eight sites in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and East Timor. What motivates them to create new patterns? How do they adjust to changing social and economic situations? A panoply of human emotions and experience emerge from the stories of these remarkable women. The videos are accompanied by newly made textiles created by each of the featured artists.

Weavers’ Stories from Island Southeast Asia was curated by Roy W. Hamilton, Senior Curator of Asian and Pacific Collections at the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Major support was provided by the Henry Luce Foundation and the R.L. Shep Endowment Fund of the Fowler Museum. Additional support was provided by the Asian Cultural Council, the Fowler Museum Textile Council and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts of the Republic of the Philippines.

Related Links

Houston Chronicle: Night Market to Highlight Asian Artisans' Work
CultureMap: Your Weekly Guide to Houston: Five (Plus) Don't-Miss Events
Houstonia Magazine: A Taste of Southeast Asia at Upcoming Night Market