May 21, 2023 • 15 mins
Andrew Hem was born during his parents’ flight from Cambodia following the Khmer Rouge genocide. He eventually earned a degree in illustration from Art Center College of Design and has become a much sought after muralist. We visit Hem at the site of one of his murals in downtown Los Angeles which honors a woman who became a Holocaust rescuer.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:05):
January thirtieth, nineteen thirty nine,during a two and a half hour speech,
German dictator Adolf Hitler tells a crowdof thousands that if another World War
were to break out, he predictedthe annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe.
Eight months later, Germany invaded Polandand World War Two began, and
(00:30):
Hitler continued his genocide of the Jewsinside Germany itself. The Elizas is the
famous stadium of Nuremberg. On Mayeighth, nineteen forty five, the war
in Europe ended chapter of this famoussouthern German city. The American flag blouped
out the Swastika after the dust settled. It was estimated that more than six
(00:52):
million Jews died in the Holocaust,but what didn't die was anti Semitism.
In fact, it flourished throughout historyand today, almost eighty years later,
anti Semitism has evolved and become evenmore dangerous, largely due to technology.
If Adolf Hitler had an Instagram account, the Holocaust would have happened a lot
quicker because the public would have beenconvinced a lot sooner. This is the
(01:21):
iHeartRadio original podcast Hate Modern Anti SemitismI'm investigative journalist Steve Gregory in Los Angeles.
Andrew him was born during his parents'flight from Cambodia following the Khmer Rouge
genocide. He eventually earned a degreein illustration from Art Center College of Design
and has become a much sought aftermuralist. We're down here in a very
(01:45):
busy street in the arts district downtownLos Angeles, or at the intersection of
Santa fe in Sixth Street. Tellus what we're looking at. This is
a mirror dedicated to Irene Updike andfor you, to those of you who
don't know, she's a Polish nursewho saved twelve Jews from the Nazis,
(02:07):
And yeah, she just helped protectthem and just kept them safe during the
whole Nazi time. How were youmade aware of her? I was approached
by these guys, Um Craig andhis company, and they asked me if
I would be interested in and Ididn't know anything about Irene. So I
(02:30):
did my research and then Um googledher and I told them I definitely would
be interested in something like this.So what did you learn about her before
you put brush to wall? Um? I learned that she just you know,
she was a hero and and forme, like I didn't know her
about her, and I feel likemost people, um, probably my age
bracket doesn't either. So UM,I feel I hope that this mural,
(02:53):
since there's not that much people myshoe knows about her, that it just
brings more awareness to her and herheroic deeds. So let's step back for
a moment. I want you togive us a picture word picture of what
we're looking, including the colors,because the colors are so bright, they're
pastel and nature to me. Yeah, but describe the colors and what your
(03:15):
inspiration was for these specific colors.I was given because you know, there's
not that much pictures of our online, so I was given through the company
them a handful of images and they'reall black and white and and and and
for me, I saw this blackand white and I just wanted to create
um vibrancy to it and just notjust this monochromatic kind of dull depictions.
(03:39):
So Mikey was just how do Imake this vibrant? And I'm obsessed with
colors. I love colors, SoI think it Um, I think it
was a challenge for me just tryingto transfer this black and white to vivid
colors. But um, I chosea lot of blues. I love blues,
greens, pinks, reds, uma lot of primary colors that that
(04:00):
I just um, kind of mixedtogether and just try to create this harmonic
imagery. Yeah, so talk aboutit, because you actually, when you
talk about a mural, it's inthe scope of it, in the size
of it. It's very large,but it's got a bunch of little motifs
in it. Yeah, so let'sstart. I really am curious about this
we have on the bottom left side, as you looked from the street,
(04:24):
it's there. It's purple, andyou've got seventy individuals sitting around a coffee
table. Okay, well, theseseven individuals are people that she say,
um, and they're they're obviously ina time bracket, whereas it is black
and white. So I didn't wantto take too far off of that whole
monochromatic feel. So I want tokept that. I want to keep it
(04:45):
monochromatic, but with a little slighthints of purples and pinks, just to
show that there's is a really datedimagery. And I wanted to make it
abstract too, So um, there'sa lot of just like triangular shapes,
a lot of uh blocks and andand and squares. But it's it's it
starts off monochromatic, then as itshoots out to where her holding, it's
(05:09):
more of a kind of modern dayhow she is now. So obviously it
is a brighter and more vivid incolors. Did you have a photo of
these seven individuals? I did?I did? Uh? Is this derived
right from the photo from reference?Yes? This is from reference? And
um, since the image was smaller, Um, you know, I felt
like if I were making more detailedit'll take away from her, So I
(05:30):
wanted to make it less readable,so it becomes like a third or fourth
read, and I wanted the focusto be on her. And then you
know what she's holding. It's interestingto see that, you know, and
knowing now that these seven people weresaved by her. Um, do you
know the circumstances around how that happened? Um? I just know that she,
(05:54):
uh, she saved them like shestored, like she needs stored.
But she she hit him away,She hit him away, and then once
they were eventually found, she offeredherself as favors to keep them safe in
a way that she sacrificed her ownbody to protect these people, which was
very heroic. Well, when youlook at the colors you've given her,
(06:15):
is there any significance to these sortof and I, for lack of a
better title for it, I'm lookingat like peach and kind of a you
know, orangey peach. It washer. Is that a specific color that
you imagined her? You know.Part of the process was I envisire some
of this color in my head,kind of like this peach color. But
(06:36):
then as I got to the wall, I added oranges and I added stuff,
so it just gives it more ofa variation of color, but it's
also in the same value. Butit just just though it's not just a
solid pink. I just improvised andat orange and purples and certain colors.
But I feel like a majority ofthe color was in my head already.
(07:00):
As I got to the wall,I added, um, spontaneous colors just
to make it more lively. Inoticed butterflies. Yeah, yeah, So
the butterflies is supposed to symbolize Irenebecause there's a lot of people in the
in the piece, so I wantedto to, uh, since there's m
(07:23):
a timeline of when she was youngerand when she was older, I wanted
to butterfly to show the viewers,Okay, this is her when she was
younger, this is her when older, just so that they know this is
Irene and not somebody she saved.So the butterfly is a reference point exactly.
Yeah. Yeah. So then aswe look back here, tell us
what it says, Sarah, whatare what are the letters that say in
(07:44):
the middle. Well, that's thecompany that contacted me, The Righteous among
them, the Nation's Global Mirror Project. They they asked me if I was
interested in in doing this piece andthis location. And I think oftentimes,
you know, I do murals andand and it's kind I'm like, hey,
you know, um, do whatyou want, you know, paying
what you want. And so Ifelt like this was a special thing to
(08:07):
do where you know, there's asubject matter, and there's a powerful subject
matter. So so I was morethan happy to do this. What about
the other side, can we go? I'm curious here as we walk through,
Um, what was this picture denotingthat you saw? Well, this
is somebody that she saved. Andthen it seems like she's just showing this
(08:28):
this complete love to this human being. And you know she's kissing her on
the cheek. Um, somewhat similarto what a parent would do to their
own child. But I think it'svery special. How you know she's how
much she loves somebody like that.I know she also have the words art
(08:48):
over hate. Tell me why that'simportant for you? Um? Well,
I think right now. You know, ever since COVID, you know,
people see more what I feel like. Anytime there's a natural disaster or anything,
people tend to have hate over acertain race that they feel like responsible.
(09:09):
With nineteen eleven, you know,there was a lot of attacks on
the Middle Eastern With with COVID,there was a lot of attacks on Asian
Americans. So the first mural Idid for them was during COVID. It
was stop Asian Hate. And theyreached out to me again and said,
hey, we would like to doanother kind of hate campaign and which would
(09:31):
be interested in this? And thisis my second time working for them.
Both times are just against ay.Tell me how this project differs from what
you were when you were talking aboutstop Asian Hate? How does that your
vision differ from that to this this? This was an atrocity that happened many
years ago. It impacted people worldwide. Asian hate seems to be such a
(09:54):
current issue. Anti Semitism is acurrent issue between the two projects. How
were you able to sort of separatethe two and make them individual? Um,
that's a good question. I think, you know, I think a
lot of times, probably both cases, there's a lot of people who stand
(10:20):
aside and and really don't do anything. You know, people will see you
see you watch videos all the time, and there's people will see this Asian
height and they just afraid themselves.They don't want to get hurt, so
they just stand by. And Ifeel like it takes somebody like Irene to
step in and, you know,save these people and says, hey,
you know this isn't you know howit's supposed to be done. This is
(10:41):
now we're supposed to be doing toanother human being. But I'm pretty sure
you know, during the Nazis,there's so many people like today and age
where they just stand by and theydon't want to get killed themselves. I
don't know if they'd answer your question, but no, I just it does.
Just I'm curious on what your visionwas for each of them. They
both deal with similar issues, Buthow were we able to individualize each of
those projects that deal with hate?Yeah, I um wow. I think
(11:09):
for me as opposed to that firstpiece I did for the the first campaign
was a stop Asian hate. Myconcept was to showcase somebody of Asian descent
and making them feel like they're we'reall in the same boat, like we're
(11:31):
all one and united. With thismural piece, my concept was showcase somebody's
life is her whole life individual,right, and and what she accomplished because
if you look at this mural isbasically like a time lapse of her life
is. And that's the challenging parttoo, because if it's a lot of
(11:52):
screenshots of a person's life, howdo you make it unified like because it
could come a process collaji. Youknow this picture here, this picture there,
And I just wanted to unify itand also just at the same time
make it seems like it's one imageof celebrating a person's individual's life. Have
(12:13):
you ever been the subject of racism? Oh yeah, I grew up in
la and I was like one ofthree Asian people in my school. And
I think because of that, youknow, they always students. Kids always
try to stick with what they know, and if you're look different anyway,
then you know, obviously you're goingto be the source of a bullying,
you know. And and and thinkingbecause I have I'm a father now,
(12:37):
so I'm thinking back on how Iwas raised and how it is now.
And immediately I know that since thisCOVID, now, it's going to be
different for my kid. So immediatelywhat I what I thought. I don't
want to put my kid in likeone of three Asian. So I ask
my wife's like, we have tomove to a school system where at least
twenty percent Asian or like fifteen percentAsian, because if it was just like
(13:00):
two percent how I was, thenthis kid is gonna get bullied because it's
COVID. So I kept that inmind. Me being a father now and
how I was raised, it's certainthings like that that I don't want to
put my kids through it the showwith that experience in your life? Was
art the goal or was art theoutlet? Oh that's a good question too.
(13:28):
I felt a bit of both,honestly, a bit of both,
because growing up I didn't have toomuch friends. You know, I was
a you know, obviously I wasa loaner and so one of the only
Asian kids there. So what gotme by a lot was his doodling.
I always doodled the cartoon characters,animation, and I think it was just
(13:52):
when I eventually got to middle school. I remember somebody saw my doodles and
say, hey, you want todoodle together, And it was my first
time. Actually, I felt likehaving friends through art and it just it
just um kind of continued, youknow, I could kept kept drawing and
meeting more art friends, and um, you know, I felt like it
got me through a dark hole,you know. And uh, it wasn't
(14:15):
about racing wars, like, oh, somebody wants to be friends with me
because we both like drawing, youknow. So yeah, I felt like
it was an outlet for sure.So finally, when you when people drive
by walk by and see this,what do you want them to get from
this? Um, that they couldbe heroes soon that you know, just
(14:37):
don't stand by and and and youknow, do anything. Um, you
know, stand up if you can. If you can't take a stand,
then then stand up and just helpa person out. Um, that's what
I want to get this, pleaseAndrew thank you very much, thank you,
thank you for time. Hate ModernAnti Semitism is a production of the
(15:03):
KFI News Department for iHeartMedia Los Angelesand the iHeart podcast Network. The program
is produced by Steve Gregory and JacobGonzalez. To learn more about anti semitism
and how you can join the conversation, go to translate hate dot org.
Let's translate hate dot org.
January thirtieth, nineteen thirty nine,during a two and a half hour speech,
German dictator Adolf Hitler tells a crowdof thousands that if another World War
were to break out, he predictedthe annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe.
Eight months later, Germany invaded Polandand World War Two began, and
(00:30):
Hitler continued his genocide of the Jewsinside Germany itself. The Elizas is the
famous stadium of Nuremberg. On Mayeighth, nineteen forty five, the war
in Europe ended chapter of this famoussouthern German city. The American flag blouped
out the Swastika after the dust settled. It was estimated that more than six
(00:52):
million Jews died in the Holocaust,but what didn't die was anti Semitism.
In fact, it flourished throughout historyand today, almost eighty years later,
anti Semitism has evolved and become evenmore dangerous, largely due to technology.
If Adolf Hitler had an Instagram account, the Holocaust would have happened a lot
quicker because the public would have beenconvinced a lot sooner. This is the
(01:21):
iHeartRadio original podcast Hate Modern Anti SemitismI'm investigative journalist Steve Gregory in Los Angeles.
Andrew him was born during his parents'flight from Cambodia following the Khmer Rouge
genocide. He eventually earned a degreein illustration from Art Center College of Design
and has become a much sought aftermuralist. We're down here in a very
(01:45):
busy street in the arts district downtownLos Angeles, or at the intersection of
Santa fe in Sixth Street. Tellus what we're looking at. This is
a mirror dedicated to Irene Updike andfor you, to those of you who
don't know, she's a Polish nursewho saved twelve Jews from the Nazis,
(02:07):
And yeah, she just helped protectthem and just kept them safe during the
whole Nazi time. How were youmade aware of her? I was approached
by these guys, Um Craig andhis company, and they asked me if
I would be interested in and Ididn't know anything about Irene. So I
(02:30):
did my research and then Um googledher and I told them I definitely would
be interested in something like this.So what did you learn about her before
you put brush to wall? Um? I learned that she just you know,
she was a hero and and forme, like I didn't know her
about her, and I feel likemost people, um, probably my age
bracket doesn't either. So UM,I feel I hope that this mural,
(02:53):
since there's not that much people myshoe knows about her, that it just
brings more awareness to her and herheroic deeds. So let's step back for
a moment. I want you togive us a picture word picture of what
we're looking, including the colors,because the colors are so bright, they're
pastel and nature to me. Yeah, but describe the colors and what your
(03:15):
inspiration was for these specific colors.I was given because you know, there's
not that much pictures of our online, so I was given through the company
them a handful of images and they'reall black and white and and and and
for me, I saw this blackand white and I just wanted to create
um vibrancy to it and just notjust this monochromatic kind of dull depictions.
(03:39):
So Mikey was just how do Imake this vibrant? And I'm obsessed with
colors. I love colors, SoI think it Um, I think it
was a challenge for me just tryingto transfer this black and white to vivid
colors. But um, I chosea lot of blues. I love blues,
greens, pinks, reds, uma lot of primary colors that that
(04:00):
I just um, kind of mixedtogether and just try to create this harmonic
imagery. Yeah, so talk aboutit, because you actually, when you
talk about a mural, it's inthe scope of it, in the size
of it. It's very large,but it's got a bunch of little motifs
in it. Yeah, so let'sstart. I really am curious about this
we have on the bottom left side, as you looked from the street,
(04:24):
it's there. It's purple, andyou've got seventy individuals sitting around a coffee
table. Okay, well, theseseven individuals are people that she say,
um, and they're they're obviously ina time bracket, whereas it is black
and white. So I didn't wantto take too far off of that whole
monochromatic feel. So I want tokept that. I want to keep it
(04:45):
monochromatic, but with a little slighthints of purples and pinks, just to
show that there's is a really datedimagery. And I wanted to make it
abstract too, So um, there'sa lot of just like triangular shapes,
a lot of uh blocks and andand and squares. But it's it's it
starts off monochromatic, then as itshoots out to where her holding, it's
(05:09):
more of a kind of modern dayhow she is now. So obviously it
is a brighter and more vivid incolors. Did you have a photo of
these seven individuals? I did?I did? Uh? Is this derived
right from the photo from reference?Yes? This is from reference? And
um, since the image was smaller, Um, you know, I felt
like if I were making more detailedit'll take away from her, So I
(05:30):
wanted to make it less readable,so it becomes like a third or fourth
read, and I wanted the focusto be on her. And then you
know what she's holding. It's interestingto see that, you know, and
knowing now that these seven people weresaved by her. Um, do you
know the circumstances around how that happened? Um? I just know that she,
(05:54):
uh, she saved them like shestored, like she needs stored.
But she she hit him away,She hit him away, and then once
they were eventually found, she offeredherself as favors to keep them safe in
a way that she sacrificed her ownbody to protect these people, which was
very heroic. Well, when youlook at the colors you've given her,
(06:15):
is there any significance to these sortof and I, for lack of a
better title for it, I'm lookingat like peach and kind of a you
know, orangey peach. It washer. Is that a specific color that
you imagined her? You know.Part of the process was I envisire some
of this color in my head,kind of like this peach color. But
(06:36):
then as I got to the wall, I added oranges and I added stuff,
so it just gives it more ofa variation of color, but it's
also in the same value. Butit just just though it's not just a
solid pink. I just improvised andat orange and purples and certain colors.
But I feel like a majority ofthe color was in my head already.
(07:00):
As I got to the wall,I added, um, spontaneous colors just
to make it more lively. Inoticed butterflies. Yeah, yeah, So
the butterflies is supposed to symbolize Irenebecause there's a lot of people in the
in the piece, so I wantedto to, uh, since there's m
(07:23):
a timeline of when she was youngerand when she was older, I wanted
to butterfly to show the viewers,Okay, this is her when she was
younger, this is her when older, just so that they know this is
Irene and not somebody she saved.So the butterfly is a reference point exactly.
Yeah. Yeah. So then aswe look back here, tell us
what it says, Sarah, whatare what are the letters that say in
(07:44):
the middle. Well, that's thecompany that contacted me, The Righteous among
them, the Nation's Global Mirror Project. They they asked me if I was
interested in in doing this piece andthis location. And I think oftentimes,
you know, I do murals andand and it's kind I'm like, hey,
you know, um, do whatyou want, you know, paying
what you want. And so Ifelt like this was a special thing to
(08:07):
do where you know, there's asubject matter, and there's a powerful subject
matter. So so I was morethan happy to do this. What about
the other side, can we go? I'm curious here as we walk through,
Um, what was this picture denotingthat you saw? Well, this
is somebody that she saved. Andthen it seems like she's just showing this
(08:28):
this complete love to this human being. And you know she's kissing her on
the cheek. Um, somewhat similarto what a parent would do to their
own child. But I think it'svery special. How you know she's how
much she loves somebody like that.I know she also have the words art
(08:48):
over hate. Tell me why that'simportant for you? Um? Well,
I think right now. You know, ever since COVID, you know,
people see more what I feel like. Anytime there's a natural disaster or anything,
people tend to have hate over acertain race that they feel like responsible.
(09:09):
With nineteen eleven, you know,there was a lot of attacks on
the Middle Eastern With with COVID,there was a lot of attacks on Asian
Americans. So the first mural Idid for them was during COVID. It
was stop Asian Hate. And theyreached out to me again and said,
hey, we would like to doanother kind of hate campaign and which would
(09:31):
be interested in this? And thisis my second time working for them.
Both times are just against ay.Tell me how this project differs from what
you were when you were talking aboutstop Asian Hate? How does that your
vision differ from that to this this? This was an atrocity that happened many
years ago. It impacted people worldwide. Asian hate seems to be such a
(09:54):
current issue. Anti Semitism is acurrent issue between the two projects. How
were you able to sort of separatethe two and make them individual? Um,
that's a good question. I think, you know, I think a
lot of times, probably both cases, there's a lot of people who stand
(10:20):
aside and and really don't do anything. You know, people will see you
see you watch videos all the time, and there's people will see this Asian
height and they just afraid themselves.They don't want to get hurt, so
they just stand by. And Ifeel like it takes somebody like Irene to
step in and, you know,save these people and says, hey,
you know this isn't you know howit's supposed to be done. This is
(10:41):
now we're supposed to be doing toanother human being. But I'm pretty sure
you know, during the Nazis,there's so many people like today and age
where they just stand by and theydon't want to get killed themselves. I
don't know if they'd answer your question, but no, I just it does.
Just I'm curious on what your visionwas for each of them. They
both deal with similar issues, Buthow were we able to individualize each of
those projects that deal with hate?Yeah, I um wow. I think
(11:09):
for me as opposed to that firstpiece I did for the the first campaign
was a stop Asian hate. Myconcept was to showcase somebody of Asian descent
and making them feel like they're we'reall in the same boat, like we're
(11:31):
all one and united. With thismural piece, my concept was showcase somebody's
life is her whole life individual,right, and and what she accomplished because
if you look at this mural isbasically like a time lapse of her life
is. And that's the challenging parttoo, because if it's a lot of
(11:52):
screenshots of a person's life, howdo you make it unified like because it
could come a process collaji. Youknow this picture here, this picture there,
And I just wanted to unify itand also just at the same time
make it seems like it's one imageof celebrating a person's individual's life. Have
(12:13):
you ever been the subject of racism? Oh yeah, I grew up in
la and I was like one ofthree Asian people in my school. And
I think because of that, youknow, they always students. Kids always
try to stick with what they know, and if you're look different anyway,
then you know, obviously you're goingto be the source of a bullying,
you know. And and and thinkingbecause I have I'm a father now,
(12:37):
so I'm thinking back on how Iwas raised and how it is now.
And immediately I know that since thisCOVID, now, it's going to be
different for my kid. So immediatelywhat I what I thought. I don't
want to put my kid in likeone of three Asian. So I ask
my wife's like, we have tomove to a school system where at least
twenty percent Asian or like fifteen percentAsian, because if it was just like
(13:00):
two percent how I was, thenthis kid is gonna get bullied because it's
COVID. So I kept that inmind. Me being a father now and
how I was raised, it's certainthings like that that I don't want to
put my kids through it the showwith that experience in your life? Was
art the goal or was art theoutlet? Oh that's a good question too.
(13:28):
I felt a bit of both,honestly, a bit of both,
because growing up I didn't have toomuch friends. You know, I was
a you know, obviously I wasa loaner and so one of the only
Asian kids there. So what gotme by a lot was his doodling.
I always doodled the cartoon characters,animation, and I think it was just
(13:52):
when I eventually got to middle school. I remember somebody saw my doodles and
say, hey, you want todoodle together, And it was my first
time. Actually, I felt likehaving friends through art and it just it
just um kind of continued, youknow, I could kept kept drawing and
meeting more art friends, and um, you know, I felt like it
got me through a dark hole,you know. And uh, it wasn't
(14:15):
about racing wars, like, oh, somebody wants to be friends with me
because we both like drawing, youknow. So yeah, I felt like
it was an outlet for sure.So finally, when you when people drive
by walk by and see this,what do you want them to get from
this? Um, that they couldbe heroes soon that you know, just
(14:37):
don't stand by and and and youknow, do anything. Um, you
know, stand up if you can. If you can't take a stand,
then then stand up and just helpa person out. Um, that's what
I want to get this, pleaseAndrew thank you very much, thank you,
thank you for time. Hate ModernAnti Semitism is a production of the
(15:03):
KFI News Department for iHeartMedia Los Angelesand the iHeart podcast Network. The program
is produced by Steve Gregory and JacobGonzalez. To learn more about anti semitism
and how you can join the conversation, go to translate hate dot org.
Let's translate hate dot org.
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