— Photos by Beatriz Leite

By Beatriz Leite

For the second consecutive year, Somerville’s Asian community gathered  Friday, May 17, at the Aeronaut Brewing Company, for the Asian Festival to celebrate Asian arts and culture. The Asian & Asian American Family network of Somerville organized the event.

The community started gathering in 2021, through Zoom to connect all Asian families from the city of Somerville. Last year, it was the first time where the community gathered in person to create the first Asian Festival. They hope it can become a yearly event now that the pandemic is not an issue anymore.

This year’s event had the presence of two local Asian photographers and photojournalists, Keiko Hiromi and Sophie Park, who shared their experiences in the industry and how their culture has influenced and affected how they worked and experienced photography. After the conversation, they gave a workshop to the children on how to take portraits. The kids took portraits of one another as the photographers guided them through it.

For the event, families that integrated into the community were encouraged to submit portraits of their loved ones, which were exhibited at the festival. The theme was love and joy, which was portrayed in the pictures. The community shared images of their daily lives, travels, special occasions, meals, pets, and everything they associated with the theme and their culture.

On the outside part of the event, volunteers shared parts of many Asian cultures with their booths, which had activities such as making origami and tulsi planting. Marteen and his daughter were responsible for instructing the guests how to make origami.

“I was on a flight, and I had just learned how to make a flower (in origami), and I gave one to this girl,” Marteen said. “She gave it back to me as a crane, and I spent the whole flight dismantling it, so I would understand how she made it.”

The event lasted two hours, and the families were happy to gather once again and share their love and pride for their culture with all the guests.