Everything She Has Within Herself
Everything She Has Within Herself brings together three murals of empowerment by Jas Charanjiva, Chanel Miller, and Jenifer K. Wofford. Inspired by community, vulnerability, and the simple gesture of acknowledgment, each artwork in its own way rejects common destructive myths created to preserve historical power structures.
Asia Society Texas is the first institution to recreate the trio of murals, which were originally commissioned for display at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco in 2020.
The title for the Asia Society Texas exhibition takes its inspiration from the poem:
what is the greatest lesson a woman should learn
that since day one
she's already had everything she needs within herself
it's the world that convinced her she did not— Rupi Kaur
Admission to this is free.
Hours
Wednesday–Friday, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Saturday–Sunday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Photography
Photography of the exhibition without flash is permitted.
Jas Charanjiva is an Indian illustrator and street artist living in Mumbai, India, where she peppers the city with street art comprising of murals, paste-ups and stickers. Raised in the Bay Area outside San Francisco, Jas is most known for her character-based art used in campaigning for social change and justice.
Her work Don't Mess with Me, more popularly known as “The Pink Lady,” has become a symbol for women's empowerment and equality for many around the world. Vogue India described the Pink Lady as “a rallying cry for global sisterhood.”
Jas' clients and collaborators include Absolut, Adidas Originals, Amsterdam Street Art, Apple Music, Asian Art Museum, Asian Paints, Diesel, Dulux Paints, Guiness Beer, House of Vans, MTV, Levis, Red Bull, Rolling Stone, St-Art India.
With everything happening in the U.S. and other parts of the world, it's important to create art that can influence and encourage people to do what's right, start a conversation or be used as a tool to educate others. Art can be so powerful.
It's an honor to have Don't Mess with Me at the Asia Society where it will be celebrated as a work responding to real-world challenges. It's thrilling to have this piece outside the entrance where it can be viewed by all who approach the building and drive by it. Don't Mess with Me was originally meant for the streets to speak about women's empowerment.
Instagram: @jascharanjiva
Chanel Miller is a Palo Alto–born artist and writer based in San Francisco and New York. She first came into the public eye, anonymously, as “Emily Doe,” the victim of a 2015 Stanford University sexual assault whose powerful impact statement presented in court went viral. Miller relinquished her anonymity and reclaimed her identity in September 2019, when she published the critically acclaimed memoir, Know My Name. I was, I am, I will be is Miller’s first commissioned artwork for a museum. Originally commissioned for display at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 2020, Asia Society Texas is the first institution to recreate the murals.
In her work, I was, I am, I will be, Chanel represents healing as a process with three distinct yet interchangeable parts: reflecting on the past, being mindful of the present, and envisioning the future. In this tripartite mural, playful line-drawn figures illustrate the phrases “I was,” “I am,” and “I will be,” encouraging us to think of life as an endless state of becoming.
This piece serves as an homage to process, rather than outcome. Healing happens when we are able to incorporate the full spectrum of our experiences and integrate our collective selves.
Instagram: @chanel_miller
Jenifer K. Wofford is a San Francisco artist and educator whose work investigates hybridity, history, calamity, and global culture, often with a humorous bent. She is also 1/3 of the Filipina-American artist trio M.O.B.
Her work has been exhibited in the Bay Area at the Asian Art Museum, Berkeley Art Museum, Oakland Museum of California, YBCA, San Jose Museum of Art, Southern Exposure, and Kearny Street Workshop. Further afield, she has shown at New Image Art (Los Angeles), Wing Luke Museum (Seattle), DePaul Museum (Chicago), Silverlens Galleries (Philippines), VWFA (Malaysia), and Osage Gallery (Hong Kong).
Wofford is a recent recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant. Her other awards include the Eureka Fellowship, the Murphy Fellowship, and grants from the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Art Matters Foundation, and the Center for Cultural Innovation. She has also been artist-in-residence at The Living Room (Philippines), Liguria Study Center (Italy) and KinoKino (Norway).
Wofford teaches in the Fine Arts and Philippine Studies programs of the University of San Francisco. She has also taught at UC Berkeley, Mills College, SFAI, California College of the Arts and San Francisco State University. She holds degrees from the San Francisco Art Institute (BFA) and UC Berkeley (MFA).
Born in San Francisco and raised in Hong Kong, Dubai, Malaysia and the Bay Area, Wofford has also lived in Oakland and Prague in addition to San Francisco. A committed and active member of the Bay Area art community, Wofford currently serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors of Southern Exposure.
Pattern Recognition incorporates cheerful, bold colors, graphic patterns, and comic-strip speech bubbles as a way of paying tribute to the intertwined creative legacies of Asia and Asian America. The late 1980s design aesthetic of the mural reflects my interest in the year 1989, an international turning point that comes up often in my work. The patterns and motifs reference various craft and design traditions from the Asian Art Museum collection as well as neighboring Asian communities. The speech bubbles name-check various Bay Area figures from Asian American art history who deserve far more recognition nationally and globally.
My hope is that this mural adds vibrance to Asia Society's exterior and invites visitors to celebrate the broad array of cultures and histories that constitute the Asian and Asian-American experience.
Instagram: @woffsilog
Originally commissioned for display at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 2020. Exhibitions and their related programs at Asia Society Texas are presented by Nancy C. Allen, Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen, and Leslie and Brad Bucher. Major support comes from The Brown Foundation, Inc., Houston Endowment, and the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance. Generous funding also provided by The Anchorage Foundation of Texas, The Clayton Fund, Texas Commission on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Wortham Foundation, Inc., and Ann Wales. United Airlines is our official airline partner. Funding is also provided through contributions from the Exhibitions Patron Circle, a dedicated group of individuals and organizations committed to bringing exceptional visual art to Asia Society Texas.
Special support for this exhibition is given by the Alice Kleberg Reynolds Foundation.
