After Charles Kay Jr. reached his breaking point, he realized he didn’t want to keep his head down any longer. He wanted to stand up and stand against hate. He wanted to be seen.
Thai-American artist Charles Kay Jr. tried to work hard, remain unnoticed and fit in to white American culture – all at the cost of his own culture. In doing so, he lost a little bit of who he was and where he came from. Inspired by his top songs playlist of 2022, Charles shares his experience evolving from unseen to seen. About Our Speaker Omaha native Charles Kay Jr. is a first-generation Thai-American artist. Charles graduated from Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA, in 1992, 26 years after his parents emigrated from Thailand. He lived in Los Angeles, Paris, Minneapolis and New York before moving back to Omaha in 1996. Charles’s work has been exhibited at the Denver International Airport, The Center for Fine Art Fort Collins, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, The Anne Reed Gallery, Gilman Contemporary, Clic Gallery and Nelson Macker Fine Art. He is known for his black and white architectural series titled “Paris Still Lifes.” which is included in the Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Centers permanent collection.
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So here’s where you come in, the next generation... And thank goodness for the next generation, your generation – proud to be you, to be an individual, okay with being unique. I found that in our own children. They’ve always stood tall. They’ve never been invisible. They’ve always been the light in our lives.
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Hot Shops Art Center
Millwork Commons
Event Vesta
Photographer Wyatt Fangman
Videographer Daniel Thompson
