Artist Statement
What happens in the aftermath of brain injury? For me: a right side steeped in numbness; a nervous system in constant agitation; inner turbulence and emotional extremes. My work connects the personal to the universal–I draw from my story to explore various aspects of the mind-body connection and the brilliant vicissitudes of lived experience. My work explores the endless crests and troughs of our internal landscapes, our experience of change and surrender, of disconnection and alignment. I start with a story, concept, or feeling, and build compositions that weave together figures and landscapes through interplays of light and shadow. Pen & ink allows me to hone in on contrast and movement, and multimedia on repurposed material works to personify visceral feeling.
Art has been the strongest force of transformation in my life. It was through graffiti and street art culture that I found voice and agency in my adolescent years. As a muralist, I uplift community stories and invite viewers to reflect on relationships between the internal and external, self and other, space and place, development and displacement. I hope to elevate public art as a voice for the people; with so much of the public art industry intertwined with forces of systemic violence, I believe in grounding this work in a respect for the health of our communities and a critical understanding of power in our world.
As a child of immigrants who had struggled to contend with race, identity, and belonging in the United States, Hip-Hop and graffiti culture provided me a framework with which to create myself and process realities. These movements have pioneered paths over and under society’s barriers, and connect me with creation that lives in the world: in alleys, along rooftops, on trains circulating cities and freights crossing state lines. I draw from them a steady source of creative energy, connection, zeal for life and adventure; the spirit of art that fights to be free.
Bio
Shani Shih is a DC-based multidisciplinary artist working at the intersections of public art, arts education, and community organizing. Her murals live in a variety of spaces – ranging from schools, gardens to convenience stores – and her studio works, which include pen & ink illustration and multimedia painting on found material, have been showcased in regional and national exhibitions. Whether in the studio or out in the world, she uses movement-filled compositions to explore lived experience, the visceral complexities of the mind-body connection, and the social systems that so powerfully shape human realities. Her public art practice draws heavily from her background in community and ongoing work as a tenant organizer, centering working class voice and power in landscapes commandeered by forces of gentrification and displacement.
In 2016, Shani co-founded the 411 Collective, a street art/graffiti collective working to uplift communities through murals and direct art action. In 2018, with the help of the 1882 Foundation, she founded the Chinatown Art Studio, a youth art space servicing Asian Pacific American youth through multimedia art instruction and creative empowerment programming.
Select Engagements & Workshops
2023 Planned Parenthood, Advancing Leaders Through Opportunity Featured Speaker - Washington, DC
2022 Westhampton College, University of Richmond. Connecting Women of Color Conference. Speaker - Richmond, VA
2021 DC Murals, Aerosoul: Murals for our Time, Panelist - Washington, D.C.
NAKASEC, Activating Creativity: Asian American Artists on Art & Community, Speaker - Washington, D.C.
SW Action x Current Movements x Advocates: Gentrification as Public Policy, Speaker and Co-organizer, Washington DC
2020 NAKASEC, Asian American Histories of the DMV, Speaker - Washington, D.C.
SAMASAMA x Sustainable Culture Lab, Diaspora People’s Month Artist Talk, Speaker - Washington, D.C.
2019 Smithsonian Anacostia Museum, Right to the City Artist Talk, Speaker - Washington, D.C.
Smithsonian Anacostia Museum, The Past & Future of DC Chinatown, Panelist - Washington, D.C.
2018 Torpedo Factory Art Center New Art , New Voices Roundtable, Resident Artist Speaker - Alexandria, V.A.
1882 Foundation Talk Story: Southern Fried Asian, AAPI Storytelling & Arts, Panelist and Speaker - Washington, D.C.
NAKASEC Youth Program, Guest speaker and workshop facilitator - Annandale, V.A..
2017 Asian American LEAD Youth Summit, Facilitator - Washington D.C.
2017 Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership Washington Leadership Program: Advocacy in the Arts, Panelist & Speaker - Washington D.C.
2016 Asian American LEAD / NAKASEC Summer Youth Program, Street Art Workshop Facilitator - Washington D.C.
2020 NAKASEC, Asian American Histories of the DMV, Speaker - Washington, D.C.
SAMASAMA x Sustainable Culture Lab, Diaspora People’s Month Artist Talk, Speaker - Washington, D.C.
2019 Smithsonian Anacostia Museum, Right to the City Artist Talk, Speaker - Washington, D.C.
2018 Torpedo Factory Art Center New Art , New Voices Roundtable, Resident Artist Speaker - Alexandria, V.A.
1882 Foundation Talk Story: Southern Fried Asian, AAPI Storytelling & Arts, Panelist and Speaker - Washington, D.C.
NAKASEC Youth Program, Guest speaker and workshop facilitator - Annandale, V.A..
2017 Asian American LEAD Youth Summit, Facilitator - Washington D.C.
2017 Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership Washington Leadership Program: Advocacy in the Arts, Panelist & Speaker - Washington D.C.
2016 Asian American LEAD / NAKASEC Summer Youth Program, Street Art Workshop Facilitator - Washington D.C.
Group Shows, Exhibits, and Events
2021
Brick City Jam - Newark, NJ
“Political Inheritance” Exhibition - Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Oakland CA
“Work in Progress” Exhibition - Hermitage Museum, Norfolk VA
“We Are Home" Exhibition - Homme DC, Washington DC
“Daybreak" Exhibit - York & Penn Gallery, Towson, MD
“Inside & Out” Exhibition - Justice Arts Coalition, Washington DC
2020
Few & Far 9th Anniversary Paint Jam - Richmond, VA
APAHM Virtual Gallery - Asian Pasifika Arts Collective (online)
Murals That Matter Exhibit - National Building Museum, Washington DC
2019
Fine Lines Paint Jam - Kennedy Center, Washington DC
Flip the Script: Stories of Hip Hop and Asian America - Charm City Festival, Baltimore, MD
Workhouse Mural Project - Workhouse Arts Center, Lorton VA
Samasama 2019 Group Show - Shopkeepers Gallery, Washington DC
Broccoli City Festival Mural Artist - Landover, MD
Signs & Letters Show - Raw Ink Gallery, Gaithersburg MD
2018
Water is Life Wednesday Live Paint - Eaton Workshop, Washington DC
Doors of Make Room Public Art Project - Washington, DC
New Art, New Voices Artist Residency - Torpedo Art Factory, Alexandria VA
Duende District Pop-up Featured Artist - Torpedo Art Factory, Alexandria VA
ArtsxAction: Live Mural - Washington DC
Spotlight on the Arts Mural Jam - Fairfax, VA
Samasama 2018 Group Show - Shopkeepers Gallery, Washington DC
Art as a Voice @ API Domestic Violence Resource Project - Washington, DC
Street Sticker Expo 3.0 - The Fridge Gallery, Washington DC
2017
Samasama 2017 Group Show - Washington DC
Power of Art Reception - National CAPACD Convention, Washington DC
2016
DC to Standing Rock Benefit Art Show - Union Arts, Washington DC (co-organizer)
Bern the System! DC Artists for Bernie Sanders - The Fridge Gallery, Washington DC (co-organizer)
Disembodied Group Show - Epicure Café, Fairfax VA
High Caliber Forum Group Show - Washington DC
KIDS Group Show - The Fridge Gallery, Washington DC
2015
Implicit Bias: Seeing the Other, Seeing Ourself - Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery x Busboys & Poets, Washington DC
Street Sticker Expo 2.0 - The Fridge Gallery, Washington DC
2014
TaiwaneseAmerican.org Poster Exhibit, Honorable Mention | New York, NY
