VANCOUVER, Wash. (KOIN) — In 1934, Leah Hing became the first Chinese-American woman to earn her pilot’s license. She learned to fly in Vancouver and worked at Portland Air Base in World War 2.
Earlier this year, a mural honoring Hing in Vancouver was vandalized by an X over her face. The muralist, Alex Chiu, believes it was racial targeting.
“I try to be as equitable as possible in how I represent the community but I do get a strong backlash of not including enough white people in my murals,” Chiu told KOIN 6 News, “and I do think that is a response of white supremacy in Portland, Oregon.”
Chiu believes his specific role as an artist is to spotlight communities of color in the Pacific Northwest.
“I think doing mural work, doing community work has opened up more of a story for me and educated me about what is important in a community and what is important for public art, what story should be told. And I feel I have a great privilege to be able to tell those stories,” he said.
“In a way I do feel like a local historian or even journalist to try and find an important story that needs to be told or who needs to be highlighted in the community.”
Alex Chiu on Instagram — @artbyalexchiu
Links to map of his work — @asianamericantown
Inside the Portland International Airport is a 150-foot mural, “A Place Called Home,” features Chiu’s work alongside local Japanese-American artist Jeremy Nichols. It details the region’s magical landscape and features locals from all walks of life — a Ballet Folklórico dancer, blues musician Norman Sylvester and native storyteller Ed Edmo.
“Seeing the way people feel uplifted and feel more part of the community because they’re represented in the artwork that’s around them became something of pride for me and something I felt like I had a role in the city and community,” he said.
He and Nichols created a massive mural at the top of an 11-story building in downtown Portland. Chiu said they had to get onto a scaffold every morning to work on the mural with 2 sets of hands — young and old — holding a bowl. It’s called “Inheritance.”
“The older generation passing down their legacy to the next generation,” he said.
In Portland’s Jade District, where Chiu is well known by neighbors and businesses, is a mural inside Mojo Crepes on Southeast Division. Next to the pool tables and in the arcade room are dragons drawn by Chiu and painted by students.
The Oregon Historical Society said people of Chinese descent began settling in Oregon about a decade before it became a state in 1859. But their role in developing the state is not often discussed.
Alex Chiu’s work is helping to change that.
