Summer clips: Tidawhitney Lek

Episode No. 720 is a summer clips episode featuring artist Tidawhitney Lek.

Lek is among the 30+ artists featured in "Spirit House" at the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington. The exhibition considers how 33 contemporary artists of Asian descent challenge the boundary between life and death through art, including how the spiritual relates to diaspora, connections to ancestral homelands, and the experience of feeling present within multiple cultures and multiple geographies. The show’s curatorial framework was inspired by spirit houses, small devotional structures found throughout Thailand that provide shelter for the supernatural. "Spirit House" originated at the Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, and was curated by Aleesa Pitchamarn Alexander with Kathryn Cua. It is on view in Seattle through January 11, 2026. An excellent exhibition catalogue, titled “Spirit House: Hauntings in Contemporary Art of the Asian Diaspora,” was published by the Cantor and Gregory R. Miller & Co. Amazon and Bookshop offer it for $45-50.

Lek is a southern California-based, Cambodian-American artist whose work examines narratives surrounding and the daily experiences of a first-generation American born to immigrant parents. Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, and she's been featured in the Made in LA biennial at the Hammer Museum, University of California, Los Angeles. Her first museum solo show was at the Long Beach Museum of Art in 2023.

Discussed on the program:

• Martha Rosler’s “House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home” series may be viewed on the website of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
• The work of Amir Fallah and Annie Lapin.
• Lek’s website.

Instagram: Tidawhitney Lek, Tyler Green.

Air date: August 21, 2025.