After Dark: Tapestry
Celebrate AANHPI Heritage Month and QTAPI (queer & trans Asian-Pacific Islanders) Week at After Dark! Dive into the rich history of fiber arts, and explore queer and trans AANHPI perspectives both locally and globally. Enjoy a deluxe drag show featuring performers from the Bay Area’s most beloved AANHPI drag houses, immerse yourself in works from local artists, and more.
Drag Deluxe: Bay Area Showcase
8:00–9:30 p.m.
Kanbar Forum
With Rice Rockettes, Fili.Pinx, Masala Mahal, and Mabuhay Bitches
Wit, glamour, and drama! Join us for a grand spectacular show featuring four Bay Area AANHPI drag houses, presented by Imelda Glucose and hosted by Estee Longah.
Rice Rockettes (@ricerockettes)
Formed in 2009, the Rice Rockettes are one of the longest-running all-AANHPI drag houses in America.
Fili.Pinx (@fili.pinx)
FilipinX is the brainchild of drag performer Yves St. Croissant. She envisioned creating a super group of Filipino performers with different backgrounds, talents, and ties to their heritage.
Masala Mahal (@the.masala.mahal)
Known for their cool, colorful, creative and campy presence onstage, this vibrant duo brings South Asian flavor to captivate you.
Mabuhay Bitches (@mabuhay.bitches)
The dolls are ready to serve you unforgettable acts, authentic Filipino style.
Weaving Safety Through Story
6:30–8:00 p.m.
Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon
With Dr. Jude Paul Dizon
In this interactive talk, we will explore what it means to feel safe as an individual and how that might change when we consider the state of our relationships with the people around us. How might relationships and community be the levers for all of us to have our needs met, be known, and looked out for?
Jude Paul Dizon, PhD is an abolitionist scholar and educator. His research examines the intersection of higher education and the carceral state.
Q-Tapestry: Communal Embroidery
6:30–9:00 p.m.
Gallery 2: Tinkering
Explore the expressive and sculptural qualities of fiber and string, and construct embroidered tiles full of color, narrative, and texture. Take your creation with you or contribute it to a communal art project that is one part quilt and one part a growing, living installation. Watch it over the course of the evening to see all of the hues and perspectives of our community take shape!
What is QTAPI Week? In 2021, San Francisco became the first city in America to formally designate an honor to the local queer and trans Asian and Pacific communities. Sitting at the bridge between AANHPI Heritage Month and Pride Month, QTAPI Week brings special events across the city, and is now celebrated in several other major cities like Portland and Washington, DC.
Gender Euphoria
6:30–9:30 p.m.
Bechtel Gallery 3
With the Explainers
Show us what makes you feel comfortable in your skin! Take a picture of your fresh haircut, new shoes, fancy earrings, stunning arms, or whatever else makes you, you. Show the world what you love about yourself, instead of picking at what you don’t. The Explainers will help showcase the best you!
Disco Balling Heads
6:30–9:30 p.m.
Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon
With Jethro Patalinghug
Each headpiece displayed here represents queer subcultures in the Bay Area and beyond that subvert the binary ideology: The Imperial Council of San Francisco, The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Leather Community, the Queer Babaylans, the trans community, and LGBTQIA+ youth.
Materials: reconfigured drag jewelry, wigs, metallic pins, styrofoam heads, feathers
Jethro Patalinghug is a Filipino nonbinary artist and filmmaker amplifying BIPOC and LGBTQ+ stories through film, drag, and visual art. An IDFA Producer’s Connection fellow, they create socially engaged work and serve on multiple advocacy boards to champion queer rights, immigrant protection, and inclusive storytelling.
Extending the Useful Life
6:00–10:00 p.m.
Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon
WIth Ruth Tabancay
By hand-stitching used tea bags into a quilt, artist Ruth Tabancay evokes the memory of snuggling with her then-teenage daughter under her comforter and drinking tea together. This is the third piece in the series.
Ruth Tabancay began her professional life as a hospital laboratory technologist, then as a physician in private practice, and finally as an exhibiting artist. Her recent work concerns environmental issues such as bleaching of the coral reefs, organisms’ ability to digest plastic, sustainable alternatives to fast fashion, and ecological systems such as mycorrhizal networks and bee colonies.
AIDS Memorial Quilt
6–10 p.m.
Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon
This is a section of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, the world's largest ongoing community folk art project. It celebrates the lives of people who have died of AIDS-related causes.
Created in 1987, the Quilt consists of more than 50,000 3x6-foot panels. In its entirety, the Quilt weighs more than 54 tons and encompasses 1.5 million square feet of fabric.
Within the Quilt are the names and stories of more than 110,000 friends, family members, and loved ones whose lives were lost. The Quilt is a symbol of social justice and an important educational resource to ensure that our nation never forgets the 700,000 lives lost in the United States from AIDS-related causes.
Blending the talents and stories of the Bay Area’s QTAPI community with the Exploratorium’s unique perspectives on science, art, and human perception, this special After Dark will stoke delight and curiosity through drag, speaker sessions, hands-on activities, and more.
Presented by Jake Montano & Exploratorium