Sightlines: Chinatown and Beyond

A sculptural jacket made of strips of fabric, which hang down.

Terence Nicholson, Safety Jacket: A Mourning in Chinatown, 2018. Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution. Gift of Alexia and Roderick von Lipsey

Sightlines, organized by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, provides glimpses into the complexity and depth of Asian American connections to Washington, DC. 

Description

Sightlines: Chinatown and Beyond highlights the imprint of Asian Americans on the physical and cultural terrain of Washington, DC. The exhibition, organized by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, is on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, located in DC’s historical Chinatown neighborhood.

The featured stories highlight examples of cultural production that interpret elements of Chinese, Korean, and Javanese heritage or express coalitional Asian American and BIPOC identities. These are presented in displays of artwork, material culture, images, and other graphic material drawn from Smithsonian collections as well as shared by local lenders, including community members and repositories such as the DC History Center and the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University.

For more information, please visit the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center's website

Interested in bringing a school or community group to Sightlines: Chinatown and Beyond? Please send an inquiry to APAC-Education@si.edu.

For other visits, please send an inquiry to APAC-Events@si.edu.

Visiting Information

September 7, 2024 November 30, 2025
Open Daily, 11:30 a.m.–7:00 p.m
Free Admission

Events

8
Saturday
Feb
Sightlines Saturday Guided Tour and Activity: Love Letters
Saturday, February 8, 2025, 12 – 3pm EST
Free | Registration encouraged 

Credit

Sightlines: Chinatown and Beyond is supported by a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation and made possible through support from the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Surdna Foundation. The exhibition has also received federal funding from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center; the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum; and the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative Pool, administered by the National Collections Program.