“How do we see ourselves represented?” asks artist Tommy Kha. “I think it’s a continuous performance, to constantly search for where do I stand in the picture?” The artists in this playlist draw from diasporic experiences, reflect on and expand representations of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in Western media, and consider the impacts of colonialism and imperialism on global cultures. Through explorations of the history of photography, space exploration, cultural authenticity, colonial legacies, and more, these films reveal the diversity of AAPI artists working today.

Watch each of the sixteen full segments from Season 4 of Art21’s Peabody Award-winning Art in the Twenty-First Century series.

Season 4 reveals the inspiration, vision and techniques behind the creative works of 17 contemporary artists. Art21 travels across the country and abroad to film painters, sculptors, photographers, and filmmakers in their own spaces and in their own words. Viewers are invited behind-the-scenes to see artists at work in their studios, homes, communities, and in sites as diverse as an old-growth forest near Seattle, a military base in California, a theater academy in Warsaw, and a film set, in addition to galleries and museums. The artists profiled speak directly to the audience, describing their passions, impulses and methods.

Season 4 premiered in October 2007 on PBS.

Watch each of the thirteen full segments from Season 5 of Art21’s Peabody Award-winning Art in the Twenty-First Century series.

Art21 traveled around the world in Season 5, filming the creation of new art on every continent except Antarctica, and in museums, studios, galleries, and homes in nine countries. Fourteen internationally recognized artists, from painters and sculptors to photographers and filmmakers exploring the possibilities of new media, were filmed in their own environments and in their own words. The result is an exceptional opportunity for audiences to experience first-hand the complex artistic processes behind some of today’s most intriguing and thought-provoking art.

Season 5 premiered in October 2009 on PBS.