AURORA | The wide eyes, open maw and frenzied facial expression of the mask hints at a character unhinged, a mischievous figure capable of all sorts of chaos.
The Hanuman mask from the Wat Buddhawaram Buddhist temple in Denver captures the essence of the mythical character from the Hindu epic Ramakian, Thailand’s native creation story that details interactions between gods and men. The mask of Hanuman, the monkey-faced god-king who draws on deception and trickery in the epic’s monumental battles, is a common feature in traditional Thai celebrations, rites that celebrate myths that span centuries.
And now that mask is in Aurora, one of more than 200 items that make up “An Epic Journey: Aurora’s Asian/Pacific Communities,” the exhibition at the Aurora History Museum that opened last week. The number of exhibit pieces that came in from local community members was overwhelming. About 70 individuals and six larger organizations had items to donate. There were too many contributions to fit in the museum’s main exhibition hall, and officials had to find other sites to display the paintings, textiles, sculptures and instruments.
“We had to make hard decisions,” said Aurora History Museum Director Jennifer Kuehner, explaining that the museum had to choose between more than 300 items. “We didn’t have a lot of wall space in the main hall. A lot of the original artwork by Asian artists and traditional pieces were hung in the second floor gallery at the Aurora Municipal Center. There are two cases of decorative pieces on that floor as well.”
That outpouring from Aurora residents, religious organizations and community groups ties into one of the main themes of the show. A wealth of communities, traditions and perspectives find a voice in the collection, a trove that includes everything from ceremonial headwear to devotional sculptures. The collection represents more than 15 Asian and Pacific countries and communities, populations that have helped define and reshape Aurora in recent decades.
“About five years ago, we worked with the Aurora Asian/Pacific Partnership on a small exhibit over at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library. People really enjoyed seeing it, and we’ve been thinking about doing a more major and larger exhibit on these cultures,” Kuehner said. “We knew the Asian population was growing in Aurora.”
That conclusion is backed up by U.S. Census data released earlier this year. The statistics showed that nationwide, the Asian population was the fastest growing race group from 2000 to 2010. That trend found a parallel in Aurora, where the Asian community’s growth outpaced the city’s population as a whole. While the city grew by 17 percent in the past decade, the Asian population grew by 38 percent. According to the Census data, 20,109 people identified as at least partially Asian in 2010 compared to 14,565 in 2000.
In 2000, 12,066 people in Aurora identified themselves as Asian alone. By 2010, that number rose to 16,086, an increase of 33 percent.
Those growing populations in Aurora boast a vibrant range of cultural traditions and stories, a gamut that Kuehner said the museum worked to capture.
“We worked with them to represent as many of the cultures as we could work with, to introduce the rest of Aurora to their traditions, their heritage, the reasons they moved here and why they departed their own country,” Kuehner said. “We also wanted to show how they’re working in their own communities and the larger metro area to keep their traditions alive.”
In the exhibit, that story comes through in categories that include cuisine, religion, expression and textiles. The show includes a short film produced in part by Aurora’s Channel 8 television station, a tapestry of local residents speaking about cultural traditions and everyday realities. The show goes deeper than the ceremonial masks, lifelike figurines and traditional glassware and dishes – the modestly sized exhibition hall at the Aurora History Museum includes displays that relate stories and detail lives from the Aurora community.
A placard tells the story of Sum Cong Nguyen, a commanding officer in the South Vietnamese military who flew from Saigon with his family in the waning days of the Vietnam War in 1975. After a harrowing escape, the family landed in Colorado, where Sum Cong Nguyen became a pillar of the local community.
There are black-and-white photos and recorded interviews with John Yee, a retired teacher from the Aurora Public Schools district who offered lessons in subjects ranging from Chinese to Western literature. Daniel Oh, who worked as a Korean translator for the Aurora Police department and helped lead the local Sister Cities project, is another featured Aurora community member.
That combination of local stories and diverse display pieces forms the heart of the exhibit, Kuehner said.
“We want to try to represent as many of the cultures as we can,” Kuehner said. “My hope is that this isn’t the only exhibit like this that we have, that this is only the first. In the future, as we get to know the community better, we can do some additional exhibits.
“It’s just getting our relationship established,” she added.
Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com or 720-449-9707