Adriel Luis, Los Angeles resident and Curator of Digital and Emerging Practice at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (APAC), visits some of the people and places in Los Angeles that inspire his and others’ work across the Smithsonian.
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Adriel walks most mornings to Venice Beach, where environmentalist and legendary skateboarder Peggy Oki tested her first tricks, and artist and scholar L. Frank Manriquez has helped revitalize native Tongva language and culture. They meet to discuss a follow-on to Wavelength, their interactive art project on marine ecosystems, presented at the 2022 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
Adriel drives on back streets to take in L.A.’s kaleidoscopic, history-rich neighborhoods. He takes Washington Boulevard from his home in Mar Vista, which became a popular site for Japanese Americans to resettle following their incarceration in WWII-era camps—APAC and the National Museum of American History hold objects and stories from people who lived in these camps.
Adriel makes a detour to drive by Judy Baca’s The Great Wall of Los Angeles in Valley Glen. The mural exemplifies Baca’s approach: make art for the community, with the community. The Smithsonian American Art Museum acquired Baca’s Uprising of the Mujeres, which tackles similar themes, in 2019.
An outdoor concert at Highland Park’s La Tierra de la Culebra sparked the idea for Bravespace—a vibrant playlist of songs and sounds inspired by L.A.’s music scene, curated by Adriel and available across music streaming platforms.
In Los Feliz—where Walt Disney spent his formative years—Adriel runs into zine writer and artist Yumi Sakugawa, who is featured in APAC’s Care Package: a collection of art, poetry and meditations co-curated by Adriel.
The Smithsonian Affiliate Japanese American National Museum is a favorite stop. Adriel and Tad Nakamura, frequent collaborator and director of the museum’s Watase Media Arts Center, sit in the sunshine at the nearby Noguchi Plaza; the Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Portrait Gallery and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden hold several of L.A. native Isamu Noguchi’s works.
Koreatown is known for some of L.A.’s best Mexican food. Adriel meets filmmaker Frank Chi for mole and fried grasshoppers to discuss a screening of Chi’s documentary 38 at the Garden at the National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C.
Smithsonian scientists and experts have long studied the L.A. region. Adriel jumps on a boat to the Channel Islands—California’s Galapagos—to meet Scott Sillett of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. They discuss an educational program about native Chumash culture and the archipelago’s endemic species, including the island scrub-jay.