Kristina Wong with Rebecca Solnit: The Power of Art and Aunties

“Had the government stepped in and done its job, had they not advocated against vaccines and mask mandates, we wouldn't have been frantically gathering our children to cut up bedsheets to make masks for medical workers and everyone else.” That’s Kristina Wong, performance artist, comedian, and writer. This week, Wong tells the story of how she created a network of “aunties,” who were primarily Asian American, in a mutual aid project that ended up making and distributing over 500 thousand masks during the first year of the pandemic. In November 2021, she opened Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord, which played to sold-out audiences at the New York Theatre Workshop. Now Wong, legendary writer Rebecca Solnit, and several other members of The Auntie Sewing Squad have co-authored a book: The Auntie Sewing Squad Guide to Mask Making, Radical Care, and Racial Justice. Here to discuss the show, the book, the phenomenon of mutual aid in times of disaster, and how racial justice and feminism underlie it all are Aunties Kristina Wong and Rebecca Solnit. A regular contributor to the Guardian, Solnit is the author of Hope in the Dark from Haymarket Books, among twenty other publications.

GUESTS
Rebecca Solnit, Author, Historian, Activist (http://rebeccasolnit.net/)
Kristina Wong, Performance Artist, Comedian & Writer, Sweatshop Overlord (https://www.kristinawong.com/)

For more information on the Auntie Sewing Squad: http://auntiesewingsquad.com/

CREDITS
Executive Producer: Laura Flanders
Creative Director: Matt Colaciello
Communications Director: Jeremiah Cothren
Editors: Nat Needham, David Neumann
Radio & Podcast Producer: Jeannie Hopper
Co-Director Development: Dominic Marcella
Story Producer: Sabrina Artel
Motion Graphics: Nat Needham
Digital Content Creator: Leigh Friedman
Production Assistant: Ryan Hotes
Interns: Janet Hernandez

Special Thanks: New York Theatre Workshop

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ACCESSIBILITY
This episode is closed captioned.

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