Opening Reception with Screening and Tea Party
Saturday, August 24th, 6-8PM
On view
August 24th - August 31st
United States Constitution, Amendment XIX
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
In honor and celebration of the 104th anniversary of the ratification and certification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Thomas VanDyke Gallery is very pleased to present Equality Tea, a solo exhibition and presentation of work by Jaime Sunwoo.
Throughout America, women organized tea parties for meetings and fundraisers to support the suffrage movement. The Woman’s Suffrage Party sold ceylon, young hyson, gunpowder, and oolong tea under their charitable brand “Equality Tea.” Yet the history of tea is steeped in inequality, driven by colonialism, war, and appropriation. In her paper puppetry animated short documentary, Equality Tea, Sunwoo brews tea while drawing parallels between the fraught histories of the tea trade and the suffrage movement. The film honors suffragists of color and emphasizes the continued fight for voting rights today. Equality Tea was created by Jaime Sunwoo with an original score by Matt Chilton, based on a 1895 suffragist anthem by Augusta Gray Gunn. It was commissioned by Park Avenue Armory and The Laundromat Project for 100 Years | 100 Women.
The exhibition will feature Sunwoo’s film, puppets, and limited edition film-and-tea box sets. The opening reception will feature a special screening of the film with a Q&A, and highlight the work of local community organizations. Visitors are welcome to enjoy tea.
Jaime Sunwoo is a Korean American multidisciplinary artist from New York City creating film, art, and animation. Her works connect personal narratives to global histories through surreal storytelling. She studied art at Yale University and was a fellow at The Laundromat Project. Her work has been presented at Park Avenue Armory, Abrons Art Center, Flux Factory, Westbeth Gallery, Gallery Korea at KCCNY, Open Source Gallery, Museum of Food and Drink, Yale University, Cornell University, University of Maryland, and NYU. Her paper puppetry animated short documentary Equality Tea was featured in Vogue and Whetstone Magazine. Her film Handwritten premiered at Lincoln Center for New York Asian Film Festival and is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in "Fantastic New Worlds: A Handmade Puppet Dreams Collection". She is currently touring her filmed stage production Specially Processed American Me, an autobiographical and historical tale centered around the significance of Spam, the canned meat, in Asian America.