At The Shed’s fourth iteration of their annual program, “OPEN CALL: PORTALS,” 12 NYC-based artists were commissioned to create works that would transport audiences into socio-political contexts across the globe. Exploring themes of migration, colonialism, ecology and spirituality, these pieces form a sacred space within the institution’s second floor gallery space—a balm for the current US political landscape that villanizes the non-white and non-US born.

Of these dozen artists featured, three are AAPI: duo Lily Honglei, Zain Alam, and collective AYDO. In conversation with one another, these works prompted me to consider the role spirituality holds in our contemporary grappling with colonization, both in the US and abroad.