Kearny Street Workshop presents Futures We Carry, an exhibition by the AVA (APA Visual Artists) Lab 2026 cohort. 

On Display at ARC Gallery & Studios 1246 Folsom Street

May 16 - Jun 13, 2026
Gallery hours: Wednesday & Thursday 1-6pm, Saturdays 12-3pm.
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 16 6-9pm

Participating artists:

Brittani Wei-Ling Chew
Cole Lata 
Cynthia PhươngAnh Lê
Julie Kim
Jy Jimmie Flora Gabiola
Lark Chang-Yeh
Theresa Panyawai 
VC Tang
Will Liang

The 2026 AVA Lab exhibition presents works that imagine futures carried forward through memory, resistance, and collective imagination. Grounded in ancestral and cultural knowledge, the exhibition foregrounds counter-narratives that challenge dominant histories and propose alternative ways of being, belonging, and organizing life together.

Rather than presenting the future as speculative or detached, the exhibition positions it as already in motion—embedded in inherited practices, community rituals, survival strategies, and acts of care. The works reflect how artists navigate tension, difference, and transformation, offering visions shaped by accountability, cultural continuity, and community wisdom.

Together, the exhibition becomes a space of convergence: where personal histories meet collective futures, where grief and imagination coexist, and where art functions as a tool for remembering, re-visioning, and building power beyond the individual.

About AVA Lab

AVA Lab is a 7+ week mentorship and community arts fellowship intended to guide Asian American and Pacific Islander visual artists looking to deepen their praxis in community. This program is intended to move beyond the traditional modes of learning in the arts and focus on not only our artistic practice, but how we as artists work with and within our communities.

2026 AVA Lab Faculty

Kimberley Arteche, Mari Shibuya, Michelle Lin, Dorothy Santos, Jason Bayani, Mihee Kim

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