Asian American Women Artists Association

Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA) is a nonprofit arts organization that supports and promotes the work of Asian American women artists in the visual, literary, and performing arts through activities such as art events, lectures, artists salons, and member exhibitions. Based in San Francisco, it was founded in 1989 by artists including Flo Oy Wong, Betty Kano, Moira Roth, and Bernice Bing. The first meeting was held at Kano's home in Berkeley in March of that year. In 2007, the organization formally incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non profit.

Entering the Picture is a collection about contributions of feminists to American art. It is an interdisciplinary collection of essays by artists and scholars, many of whom were eyewitnesses to landmark events, relates how feminists produced vibrant bodies of art in Fresno and other locales where similar collaborations flourished.

The Worlds of Bernice Bing is a documentary short film produced by the AAWAA, featuring the life and work of the lesbian Chinese American artist Bernice Bing. The film is directed by Madeleine Lim, executive artistic director of the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project

In 2013, the film received the Audience Award at the Queer Women of Color Film Festival.

Local Invisibility, Postcolonial Feminisms talks about studies in gender, sexuality, and culture. It looks into postcolonial poetic and artistic work of four generations of female Asian American artists in the San Francisco Bay Area. There is a chapter on the AAWAA (Asian American Women Artists Association).

This program aims to stress an Asian American Women lens to curation, to promote Asian American Women in the arts, from a curating perspective and also benefits the artists who are under represented and lack exposure.

In 2015, in honor of its 25th anniversary, the AAWAA launched a campaign to create a large collective mural in San Francisco's Richmond District. The mural is to honor the contributions of women artists in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. It is a response to the increased racial tensions and vandalism, and to increase the visibility of Asian American female artists. "Mural Muses" will be one of the large scale murals in the Bay Area to honor Asian American artists. Melanie Elvena, programs manager at the AAWAA stated that the collaborative mural was another way to raise awareness for Asian American women artists "in a space that has been traditionally male dominated."

A Place of Her Own (PLACE) is an art based program, first created in 2008 by the AAWAA director Cynthia Tom. It is dedicated to improving women's mental health and seeks to challenge issues like colonization, racism, forced migration, and gender oppression. It is based around the question in Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own: "If you had a place of your own, what would it be?" The weekly workshops over the course of six months lead up to a professionally curated exhibition. PLACE is open to all women, regardless of art ability of experience, and uses various art mediums.

The AAWAA and the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center (APICC) presented this art exhibition as part of the United States of Asian America Festival opening at SOMArts Cultural Center from May 4–25, 2017. Shifting Movements features 40 artists working in various mediums, mostly from Asian Pacific American, African American, and Latin American backgrounds. The exhibition honors the Japanese American activist Yuri Kochiyama. Shifting Movements also featured oral history recordings, a public installation created by the community, and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center online exhibition Folk Hero: Remembering Yuri Kochiyama Through Grassroots Art.

underCurrents & the Quest for Space features the space occupied by Asian America socially, artistically and physically. It is a multidisciplinary arts exhibition that addresses topics such as "model minority", and challenges faced by Asian American society such as stereotypes, discrimination and invisibility. It is a joined force with Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center (APICC).

Eating Cultures is a multi disciplinary arts exhibition of artworks inspired by Asian American food and foodways. Artists share stories of global fusion, and importance of food in Asian communities globally.

Hungry Ghosts exhibition uses the concept of "Hungry Ghosts", a common concept throughout many Asian cultures and religions, to explore the unsatisfied ghosts of the individual and collective historical struggles that continue to cast an effect the community. It is co presented by the Manilatown Heritage Foundation.

The exhibition took place on the 25th anniversary year of the AAWAA. It features the works of 38 AAWAA artists members, and highlights the diversity, creativity, and evolution of its artist community.

Agrarianaa: Art Inspired by APA Agricultural Roots is a multimedia exhibition featuring artists and farmers rooted in the history of Asian Pacific American agricultural crafts and legacies. The exhibition addresses topics including migrant labor, environmental activism, land and food sovereignty. It includes artists who talks about how a regenerative agricultural ecosystem can support into the resilient spaces for community.