A CONVERSATION WITH LELE BARNETT
Lele Barnett is committed to sharing the stories of AANHPI artists. She has been a donor, member, and volunteer with the Wing Luke Museum for over a decade. More recently, Lele curated the Museum’s Reorient: Journeys Through Art and Healing exhibit. Based in Seattle, Lele has over 20 years of experience in art curation and art advising. She has brought art into countless spaces, such as the Microsoft Art Collection, the Washington State Art Collection, and the Washington State Convention Center. She currently works with Meta Open Arts while continuing to lend her expertise to other institutions and clients across the nation.
As a curator, Lele shares her passion for art with her clients. She believes that art is all about telling stories. And when we engage with those stories, we gain insight into our own story and build connection with the stories of others.
Lele’s work has an equal impact on creators and audiences.
“I’ve never been to China and I don’t speak Chinese. So growing up, I didn’t feel like I belonged anywhere. The Wing Luke Museum is where Asian Americans like me come to tell our stories, to grow together. When I come here, I feel like I’m at home. We need more spaces like it.”
-Lele Barnett
“I had a client that teared up when we found this one piece. He said he didn’t think he’d ever feel this way about art. These are the moments why I help people find art.”
“Art making is a sort of meditation. You have to concentrate enough that you don’t think about anything else, feeling the satisfaction of creating something that brings you joy. That is healing.”
By bringing art to new spaces and audiences, Lele illuminates and amplifies the healing power of art creation.
This is exactly what Lele does in Reorient. The exhibit began with Victor Kai Wang, who created art to reflect upon his immigration to the U.S. Seeing common themes between Victor’s work and other artists, Lele brought them together in Reorient, an exhibit that spotlights the healing power of art for AANHPI creators.
For Lele and these artists, healing means much more than just fostering tolerance. Healing means celebrating the wonderful differences that make up the AANHPI identity and sharing our diversity with the world.
“Through everything I’ve done interacting with the Wing, I now understand and can now celebrate who I am. I am different, and it’s in the best way. That’s what the Wing has taught me.”
“I had just happened to have a studio visit with Tuan Nguyen, who made sculptures that embody collective pain. Suchitra Mattai was telling painful stories but reimagines those stories with a lot of joy, revisioning them in an empowering way. And similarly, Jean Isamu Nagai’s work is thinking about toxic masculinity in his culture but turning it around with pinks and warm sunset colors. I felt like all these artists were using art to heal from a bigger pain.”
The artwork in Reorient invites our community to join the healing journey with the artists, to reflect and cherish their identity. Exhibits like Reorient spark pride in the AANHPI identity and compels us to uncover and tell more stories of our community. Lele herself has been moved by working with AANHPI art creators and recently started uncovering the details of her own family history.
“I don’t know if I’m second or third or fourth generation Chinese American. My dad’s father had papers that said he was born in the U.S. But they have told us that we’re papers sons—meaning somebody’s papers were bought at some point. I want to get deeper into this. Bring all of that out. I am trying to figure out my own family story.”
As we engage with Reorient, we are also reminded that we do not have to confront our pain alone. The Wing Luke Museum weaves together the diverse AANHPI community into a network of support.
“I volunteer at the auction every year. It’s one of my favorite events because I look around and I see everybody who looks like me and how amazing, beautiful, and strong they are. I love seeing all the different AANHPI cultures come together at the Wing Luke Museum.”
The Museum is more than a place. It is a platform for marginalized voices; it is a space for collective healing. The investments we make into the Museum will ripple outwards, creating a more inclusive world. As we continue through the pandemic with a stronger awareness for mental health and anti-AANHPI racism, we need the Wing Luke Museum more than ever.
“The Wing Luke Museum is this place where we can share our stories; I don’t know where else we could have shared the story of this exhibit.”
You are a valued donor of the Wing Luke Museum, and every gift allows us to continue to share stories like Lele’s and the healing power of creation highlighted in the Reorient: Journeys Through Art and Healing exhibition. Your support ensures these stories are heard, and that everyone has a voice and a place here.
The Satterberg Foundation has generously donated a match up to $100,000! ALL donations receved by December 31 will be matched DOLLAR for DOLLAR!
Please note our mailing address has changed:
PO Box 3025
Seattle, WA 98114
To make a donation via stock or securities contact our Development Team