A photo of Korean-American actor Daniel Dae Kim is displayed in the exhibit “Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter” at the National Portrait Gallery
Photo by CYJO, Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery

When Malco Kim arrived in America, he had two pieces of luggage.

Seen dressed in a Navy jacket and gray jeans cuffed at the ankles, with his wiry hair dangling out of a white sailor hat, his portrait tells the story of the difficulty of starting a new life in a foreign land.

Kim’s portrait, along with hundreds of others, is now on display at the National Portrait Gallery’s “Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter” exhibition. Stories of survival, exploration, assimilation, tolerance and gratitude give life to the otherwise one-dimensional images.

“I was a delivery man and took any jobs that paid me money,” Kim said in a self-reflective description under his portrait. “I had tuberculosis in 2000, was hospitalized for one year and was living off of McDonald’s coupons. I didn’t want to bother my parents and so they didn’t know. I didn’t ask for money from anybody.”

The exhibition features the work of seven Asian Pacific American visual artists, including university alum CYJO, whose KYOPO Project is displayed at the center of the exhibit.

CYJO, whose official name is Cindy Hwang, said the inspiration for the KYOPO Project came from what she perceived to be a void in the art world.

“In November 2004, I didn’t see any photography, books or projects that covered the Korean culture and modern contemporary issues,” CYJO said. “There was an absence that needed to be filled. I was also curious to see how many people who shared the same ancestry contextualized themselves in their societies and related with their heritage.”

According to the museum’s website, the artists “demonstrate, in microcosm, the nuances inherent to the Asian American experience. Their portraits of encounter offer representations against and beyond the stereotypes that have long obscured the complexity of being Asian in America and reveal the threads of contemporary life in novel ways.”

Portrait Gallery docent Ann Bass said the scope of the project reaches more than just the APA community.

“Overall, visitors learn about the people in the portraits, which makes it almost an experience. It’s not just oil on canvas,” Bass said. “Personally, I don’t know many Asian Americans, so it’s a unique opportunity for me and everyone else to learn about the culture.”

Perhaps the most eclectic display of artwork was that of Roger Shimomura. His painted portraiture represented an Asian influence on iconic American symbols. In “Shimomura Crossing the Delaware,” an Asian face is painted onto the legendary image of George Washington crossing the Delaware River. Another of Shimomura’s paintings shows an Asian-inspired image of “Pikachu.”

Junior journalism and finance double major Angela Wong was surprised at the gallery’s effective representation of APA culture.

“It broadened my perspective of being Asian American because I thought it would be stereotypical,” said Wong, whose mother emigrated from Hong Kong and whose father emigrated from Guangzhou, China. “The typical culture is a mix between American culture and Asian culture. There are more complexities than I thought about.”

The free exhibition, located in the Smithsonian museum in Washington, D.C., ends October 14, 2012.