The artist Rossin discusses his portrait of civil rights leader Andrew Young. The portrait is on view in the "The Struggle for Justice" exhibition on the second floor. Rossin was interviewed by the National Portrait Gallery's Warren Perry on April 29, 2011. For more on Andrew Young, visit the NPG's blog at: http://face2face.si.edu/my_weblog/2011/04/index.html . Also, view an in-depth interview with Andrew Young at: http://youtu.be/TZR7r3ROzJ0

Artist Zhang Chun Hong discusses her work in "Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter." The exhibition is on view from August 12, 2011 to October 14, 2012. http://npg.si.edu/exhibit/encounter . Through the groundbreaking work of seven talented artists from across the country and around the world, "Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter" offers provocative renditions of the Asian American experience. Their portraits of encounter offer representations against and beyond the stereotypes that have long obscured the complexity of being Asian in America. This exhibition is a collaboration between the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program.

Portraits of astronauts John Glenn, Bob Crippin and John Young, by Henry Casselli -- the artist discusses his work. Image: John Glenn / Henry C. Casselli, Jr. / Graphite and watercolor on paper, 1998 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Gift of Taylor Energy Company LLC

Portrait of Ronald Reagan by Henry Casselli -- the artist discusses his work. Recorded at NPG, September 24, 2010. Image: Ronald Wilson Reagan / Henry C. Casselli, Jr. / Oil on canvas, 1989 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Herman Chanen, Tom Chauncey and other Friends, Copyright Henry C. Casselli, Jr.

Portrait of Muhammad Ali by Henry Casseli -- the artist discusses his work. Recorded at NPG, September 24, 2010. Image: Muhammad Ali / Henry C. Casselli, Jr. / Oil on canvas, 1981 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the Sig Rogich Family Trust

Tam Tran discusses her work in "Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter." Tam Tran (born 1986) moved with her family to Memphis, Tennessee, from South Vietnam when she was a young child. Growing up in the South with her parents and two older sisters, Tran experienced two different and overlapping cultures--one at home and another in the world around her. A recent graduate of the University of Memphis with a degree in journalism, Tran now works as a graphic designer. She has shown her work in solo and group shows in Memphis and was included in the 2010 Whitney Biennial.

Her arresting photographs investigate identity and gender, and in this series of self-portraits, called Accents, she explores her ever-changing relationship to her own developing identity. Her self-portraits are not exercises in performance or character invention. She photographs herself against a white background, using clothing that she wears regularly--as well as pose, hairstyle, and makeup--to shift the viewer's perceptions of her own identity. Through these sometimes subtle, sometimes dramatic images, she focuses on her "battle to maintain balance in my two cultures." Recorded at NPG, September 16, 2011. Interview by Jasmine Fernandez, intern, Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program. Image: Stripe Tease / Tam Tran / Digital print, 2009 / Collection of the artist / Copyright Tam Tran

Satomi Shirai discusses her work in "Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter." The title of Satomi Shirai's photographic project, "Home and Home: New York in My Life," indicates a coming-to-grips with the dislocations caused by her move to the city from Japan in 2004. She writes about how she watched a small cherry tree in her Queens neighborhood and how she was shocked to discover one day that it had been cut down. What makes Shirai a true artist of cultural conflict and engagement is that she did not flinch from this episode, or from America. Instead, her wonderfully overstuffed, sensually detailed photographs create the visual terrain that shows Shirai's ongoing engagement with two cultures. Shirai graduated from Musashino Art University in Tokyo (1996) and worked as a commercial photographer in Japan before moving to New York City. She received her MFA from Hunter College in 2010. She has exhibited widely, including in the National Portrait Gallery's Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition (2009). Recorded at NPG, September 16, 2011. Interview by Jasmine Fernandez, intern, Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program. Image: Fortune Telling / Satomi Shirai / Digital chromogenic print, 2007 / Collection of the artist / Copyright Satomi Shirai

Roger Shimomura discusses his work in "Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter." Since 1969, Roger Shimomura (born 1939) has lived in Lawrence, Kansas, where he has served as an art professor at the University of Kansas. As a painter, printmaker, and performance artist, Shimomura has focused particular attention on the experiences of Asian Americans and the challenges of being "different" in America. He knows well the pain and embarrassment associated with xenophobia. As a small child during World War II, he and his family were relocated from their home in Seattle to a Japanese American internment camp in Idaho. Having trained as an artist at the University of Washington and Syracuse University, Shimomura creates work that often pivots on the racist stereotypes that have been used to characterize Asian Americans. The five paintings featured in this gallery were all created in the last two years. Each is a type of self-portrait in which his own likeness takes center stage. Whether fighting popular caricatures or portraying himself as someone else, Shimomura wishes to reflect on the absurdity associated with such caricatures. Both humorous and poignant, these paintings reflect the artist's long interest in the status of Asian Americans within American society. Recorded at NPG, September 16, 2011. Interview by Jasmine Fernandez, intern,Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program. Image: American vs. Japs 2 / Roger Shimomura / Acrylic on canvas, 2010 / Flomenhaft Gallery, New York City / Copyright Roger Shimomura

Shizu Saldamando discusses her work in "Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter." Shizu Saldamando (born 1978) depicts how American social spaces are the laboratories for new ways of being. Her portraits playfully suggest that race, gender, and ethnicity act as white noise to the scene at hand; audible, yet not identifiable. Saldamando's visual biographies, which use friends as her subjects, capture the energy of youthful experimentation and the freedom of malleable categories for identity. Born to parents of Japanese and Mexican descent, Saldamando resides in Los Angeles but grew up in San Francisco. She attended the University of California, Los Angeles, for her undergraduate work and received an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. About arriving in Los Angeles, she says: "Growing up in the Mission district in San Francisco, it was predominately a hip-hop culture. Here in Los Angeles, I'd go to shows or house parties, and it would be all Latino kids listening to the Cure and the Smiths. In L.A., I felt normal for the first time." Saldamando's meticulous collaged paintings offer the viewer a subtlety of influences to ponder. Recorded at NPG, September 16, 2011. Interview by Jasmine Fernandez, intern, Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program. Image: Carm's Crew / Shizu Saldamando / Gold leaf and oil on wood, 2009 / Jo Willems and Karen O'Brien / Copyright Shizu Saldamando

Hye Yeon Nam discusses her work in "Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter." "I hope my audience finds connections between my work and their lives," writes Hye Yeon Nam (born 1979). This young Korean artist, a PhD candidate at the Georgia Institute of Technology with an MFA in digital media from the Rhode Island School of Design, uses her artwork to address issues of personal and societal concern. Keenly aware of distinctions in expectations for the appropriate behavior for women in her native land and the United States, Nam has created a body of work that addresses feelings of awkwardness with subtlety and humor. Her four-part video self-portrait--Walking, Drinking, Eating, and Sitting--transforms everyday activities into sites of confusion. A hole in a glass continually spills orange juice. Large planks strapped to the artist's feet make walking uncomfortable and challenging. Tomatoes slide off a ruler used as a utensil. A chair with shortened front legs causes the artist to slide forward, slipping off her perch. No resolution is offered, and the artist invites empathy and even sympathy for the physical and psychic struggles she evokes. With her patient and resolute response to the difficult situations she encounters, Nam provides a reminder that "fitting in" requires consistent negotiation between the self and perceived expectations--a challenge to which we can all relate. Recorded at NPG, September 16, 2011. Interview by Jasmine Fernandez, intern, Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program.