Tori Hong on Illustrating the LGBTQ+ Asian American Experience

Tori Hong on Illustrating the LGBTQ+ Asian American Experience

Tori Hong, a Minneapolis-based illustrator and artist, is inspired by connection. In addition to connecting with her Hmong and Korean roots via her art, Hong has connected to her local community by building spaces for womxn, LGBTQ people and people of color to express themselves. 

She spoke with us about the financial side of working full-time as an illustrator, consultant, and artist, as well as about the many projects she has had a hand in the Minneapolis art scene. 

(editor’s note: this interview has been edited and condensed for clarity)

What inspires your art? 
Honestly, my relationships. More than that, I'm inspired by my relationships with my grandparents and my ancestors. I want to feel more connected to them and to honor these people who came before me. Art is healing. It’s therapeutic. I’m a strong advocate of also having therapy, of course. I’m interested in bridging the gaps of intergenerational memory being lost, especially through immigration and switching between languages and cultures. I get to learn about my own background.

Tell me a bit about some of the work you’re doing right now. 
My biggest client is the Minneapolis Institute of Art, which is a museum that holds anything from ancient to contemporary art. I’m currently building an online curriculum for kindergarteners through twelfth graders using objects from the Asian galleries. I’ve been coordinating the community input for that project. I’m writing the curriculum and selecting the content for it. 

I do research and was recently awarded a research and development by Forecast Public Art, a local arts foundation. I won a grant from them to conduct research on traditional craft arts. I’m Hmong and Korean, and as a part of that grant, I’ll be doing traditional Hmong embroidery.

Tori Hong, 2020

Tori Hong, 2020

As far as supporting yourself as an artist goes, what does that look like? 
Financially, I kept track of everything I made last year, and I realized that a significant part of my money came from the consulting work I did and selling prints of my own work. 

When I looked at my year-long income and where it came from, I found out that almost a quarter of my income came from in-person sales, specifically from vending my art at local markets. One of those local markets that I sell at is one that I help coordinate called Support Local Hustle. All of the vendors are BIPOC, but, of course, everyone is welcome to come. 

That started in 2017 out of my friend, The Pickle Witch’s garage. We now work on it with another friend, Heather C. Lou. We’re hosting our biggest yet in February, which will have 30 vendors and a live DJ. 

It’s been such an economic opportunity for BIPOC makers. A huge way that I sustain myself is through these markets. These alternative economies that I contribute to and am a part of are really important to me. 

I have recently decided to focus less on doing illustration work for others. It takes more administrative time, and my analysis showed that it brought in significantly less money. It was a strategic business decision. At the end of the day, I like to create because I feel like I have ideas to share and stories to tell. Although I love to do illustrations for others, and it’s something I still offer to people, it’s not something that drives me in the same way.

You also have a few other ongoing projects. 
The Queer Poetry Broadsides is a collaboration between a local-to me queer black poet, Lisa Marie Brimmer. I was commissioned by a local magazine to create illustrations inspired by her poetry. The great thing about this gig was that this art was ours to reuse, so we made them into prints. 

I also co-founded the Asian American Youth Storytellers project with my friend Khin Oo. It was really born from conversations we had about being Asian American artists and activists and not seeing our own people talk publicly about arts and activism in the Twin Cities.

We wanted to center and uplift the ways Asian Americans organize, both in solidarity with others, but also separately. So we applied for a grant that would help us to get youth involved in the process. From there, the project was born. That ran last year for six months or so and culminated in a local arts showcase and a zine publication where the youth involved did research and created art.

What are some of the ways you engage in activism? 
The biggest way that I’ve been engaging in activism is centering myself in my art. Not in a selfish way, but in a way that I’m exploring this connection between art and ancestors. I’m connecting with the people who come before and after us. I see myself as their link in the present. It’s an experiment of healing as connecting and understanding worlds that came before us and worlds that are to come. Through this self-exploration, I hope to illuminate this process so that more people, whether they’re Asian or not, can find inspiration to reconnect with their ancestors.

Tori Hong, 2019

Tori Hong, 2019

What advice can you share with other artists considering freelancing or making art full time? For anyone who is starting to freelance full time, it can feel really hard at first. It sucks and you’re going to want to do everything you can to make money and feel stable. Do what you can, and accept all the opportunities you can. Make sure you keep track of the things that are replenishing you, what’s making you money, and who are the people and what are the systems that can help. Remember to trust in why you’re doing it and that it takes a ton of creativity. Make sure that you’re centering you and not the market.

What has been inspiring you lately?
I’ve been really inspired by Chance the Rapper and his succession of albums that he’s released over the past six or seven years. He’s from Chicago, and I’m from the Midwest too. Although I'm not a black, male rap artist, I resonate with how he’s sharing his journey through his work. I really admire his latest album called The Big Day. He emphasizes that he’s making music for himself, to tell his stories. For him to do that, and to like center those loves, and to offer so much advice through his work, is so helpful. He tells you how to cope with life.

What are your long term goals?
Long term, I would love to have my art in museums. I would love to have exhibitions and residencies all across the nation and hopefully around the world. I want to keep building on these deep connections that I have and keep building this fostering of community and of family relationships. I just hope to be a good person and do the best I can to support the people around me.

Renter Power: Tori Hong in collaboration with Cori Nakamura Lin

Renter Power: Tori Hong in collaboration with Cori Nakamura Lin

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