Representation has always been more than just a buzzword for Chinese curator and gallerist Emilia Yin. When she arrived in Los Angeles roughly 10 years ago from her native Hong Kong, she noticed “there were few galleries focusing on female or Asian diasporic artists,” she tells Hypeart. “I didn’t see the show I wanted to see as an audience, so I decided to organize one myself.”
Emblematic of its name, Yin founded Make Room in 2018 to champion female and Asian diasporic artists, as well as creative voices from marginalized communities. Since then, Make Room has featured over 40 solo and group exhibitions, including works by John Yuyi, Miguel Angel Payano Jr., Sun Woo and an ongoing show by Youngmin Park. Equal parts curator and adviser, Make Room serves as an incubator for rising artists in their early stages to seasoned figures who may have been overlooked.