On July 21, Hidden Histories Artist-in-Residence Lani Asunción hosted a Dragon Head Making Workshop at Northeastern Crossing. Asunción facilitated a workshop with the We Belong Youth Leadership group, which helped construct and add decorative scales to two dragon boat heads. The artworks, created out of abstract materials like empty spray cans and plastic vents, were then transported to the August 1 Fort Point Dragon Boat Festival. At the event, designed to preserve the longstanding tradition of dragon boat festivals, Asunción, alongside Hidden Histories Artist-in-Residence Joanna Tam, extended the opportunity to help further beautify the pieces to event attendees.

The Hidden Histories Artists Residency and workshops are a collaboration between the Reckonings Project, the Center for the Arts, and Gallery 360. The 2025/2026 Hidden Histories Artists-in-Residence, Lani Asunción and Joanna Tam, are two Boston-based interdisciplinary artists whose work engages deeply with social justice, public memory, and historically underrepresented narratives. At their workshops, the artists have invited community members to aid in the creation of new art works and learn about history, based on their research in documents on Asian American history in the Northeastern University Archives.

From August 26 to December 5, Gallery 360 is hosting their joint exhibit “Waves of Hidden Histories: 隱藏歷史的浪潮.” The exhibit, curated by Juliana Barton, features various artworks — including the dragon boat heads — that Asuncion and Tam created during their time in the residency program. The showcased work is a response to the continued erasure of collective memory and neighborhood resilience affecting the diverse Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) diaspora community in Boston. The narratives in the exhibition span from the history of Boston Dragon Boat Festivals since 1979 to movements in the 1980s and 90s through to recent community activism. Beginning September 9, the exhibit expands to include Northeastern Crossing. Please stop by Gallery 360 and Northeastern Crossing, and please join the open house at Gallery 360 on September 17 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Please watch a video about the exhibition set-up. Please check the Center for the Arts website for upcoming workshops related to the exhibit.