第1840期:Asian American Artist Uses Cookies as Her Canvas

Artist Jasmine Cho paints images of both well-known and forgotten Asian Americans. But she does not use paper or canvas to create her art. She uses cookies.

艺术家 Jasmine Cho 描绘了知名和被遗忘的亚裔美国人的形象。 但她不使用纸或画布来创作她的艺术。 她用饼干。

Cho, who is also a baker, said the sweet treats “are the perfect platform for education, activism and healing…”

Cho 也是一名面包师，他说这些甜点“是教育、行动主义和治愈的完美平台……”

The 39-year-old Korean American artist calls herself a “cookie activist.” She said she believes her art comes from a feeling of not belonging when she was young.

这位 39 岁的美籍韩裔艺术家称自己为“曲奇活动家”。 她说她相信她的艺术来自于她年轻时没有归属感的感觉。

Cho has gained fans over the last several years for her detailed cookie faces. Actors Awkwafina, Daniel Dae Kim and Tamlyn Tomita are among those who have praised her cookie designs.

在过去的几年里，Cho 因其精致的曲奇脸而赢得了粉丝。 演员 Awkwafina、Daniel Dae Kim 和 Tamlyn Tomita 都对她的曲奇设计赞不绝口。

The city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Cho has lived since 2009, even honored her with a “Jasmine Cho Day” in 2020.

Cho 自 2009 年以来一直居住在宾夕法尼亚州匹兹堡市，甚至在 2020 年为她设立了“Jasmine Cho Day”。

Back in 2016, Cho was busy making cookies for her online bakery, Yummyholic. She decorated cookies with faces for a friend’s birthday party. The cookies received attention on social media. Soon, others wanted her cookies, too.

早在 2016 年，Cho 就忙着为她的在线面包店 Yummyholic 制作饼干。 她为朋友的生日聚会装饰了人脸饼干。 这些 cookie 在社交媒体上受到关注。 很快，其他人也想要她的饼干。

Cho grew up in Southern California and New Mexico. She said she noticed when Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders were not represented in movies, television shows or even history books. It made her question her own sense of belonging in America.

Cho 在南加州和新墨西哥州长大。 她说她注意到亚裔美国人和太平洋岛民在电影、电视节目甚至历史书中都没有出现。 这让她质疑自己在美国的归属感。

“That was always a pain point for me growing up,” said Cho. “So, I kind of always had this question: ‘I wonder if I could use this point of joy for me to address this pain point?’"

“这一直是我成长过程中的一个痛点，”Cho 说。 “所以，我总是有这样一个问题：‘我想知道我是否可以利用这一点快乐来解决这个痛点？’”

Cookies, she said, were the answer.

她说，饼干就是答案。

A few months after making her first cookie faces, Cho held her first showing. She made cookies of Asian American Pittsburgh natives like actor Ming-Na Wen. She also made one of Leah Lizarondo, the founder of 412 Food Rescue. The organization decreases food waste in over 25 cities in the U.S. and Canada by giving unsold food to people in need.

在制作第一张曲奇脸几个月后，Cho 举办了她的第一场演出。 她为像演员温明娜这样的亚裔美国人匹兹堡本地人制作饼干。 她还制作了 412 Food Rescue 的创始人 Leah Lizarondo 之一。 该组织通过向有需要的人提供未售出的食物，减少了美国和加拿大超过 25 个城市的食物浪费。

Lizarondo remembers how surprised she was to find out that Cho had made her into a cookie face. For the Filipino American, the honor was not a waste of food.

Lizarondo 记得当她发现 Cho 把她变成了一张饼干脸时，她是多么的惊讶。 对于这位菲律宾裔美国人来说，这份荣誉并不是浪费食物。

“I shared it as widely as I could as I was so proud to be among the people she did cookie portraits of,” Lizarondo said by email.

Lizarondo 在电子邮件中说：“我尽可能广泛地分享了它，因为我很自豪能成为她制作饼干肖像的人之一。”

Cho said, “It felt like a sort of superpower.” She had an “aha moment” of how to use her great power with great responsibility.

Cho 说：“感觉就像一种超能力。” 她有一个“顿悟时刻”，知道如何在承担重大责任的情况下使用她的强大力量。

Cho spends between four and six hours on each cookie face. She draws the cookie face by hand, fills it in with icing and then lets it dry.

Cho 在每个饼干表面上花费了四到六个小时。 她用手画出曲奇饼的表面，填上糖霜，然后晾干。

Her art has taken her to interesting places. In 2019, she wrote and drew images for a children’s book, Role Models Who Look Like Me. In the last few years, she has made over 20 virtual and in-person appearances at universities, schools and other gatherings. She also leads cookie-decorating workshops.

她的艺术将她带到了有趣的地方。 2019 年，她为一本儿童读物《长得像我的榜样》创作和绘画。 在过去的几年里，她在大学、学校和其他聚会上进行了 20 多次虚拟和面对面的露面。 她还领导饼干装饰工作坊。

Her favorite thing is when young Asian Americans feel empowered by her work.

她最喜欢的事情是年轻的亚裔美国人感受到她的工作赋予了力量。

“They tell me things like, ‘I learned more in your 15-minute talk than I have in my whole class that’s about Asian American history,’ or something like that,” Cho said.

“他们告诉我这样的话，‘我在你 15 分钟的演讲中学到的东西比我在整个班级里学到的关于亚裔美国人历史的东西还多，’或者类似的话，”Cho 说。

One of Cho’s cookie faces is an image of Betty Ong, a flight attendant who died in the September 11 terrorist attacks. Ong’s niece found Cho’s creation on Instagram and contacted her.

Cho 的一张饼干脸是 Betty Ong 的照片，她是一名在 9 月 11 日恐怖袭击中丧生的空姐。 Ong 的侄女在 Instagram 上找到了 Cho 的作品并联系了她。

Cho said, “For a family member to reach out and just thank me for sharing her story in the way that I did ... reminding me of the tenderness that comes with this work, the importance of it."

Cho 说：“对于一个家庭成员伸出援手并感谢我以我所做的方式分享她的故事......提醒我这项工作带来的温柔，以及它的重要性。”