Join us for an evening of heartfelt connection and creative exchange as Shunyu Huang, former Story Parlor Artist-in-Residence, invites a guest from Asheville’s BIPOC community—who, in turn, brings a friend of their own—to the table.
The first half of the evening is a relaxed roundtable conversation where the trio, over a shared pot of tea, explores the “five flavors of life”—sourness, sweetness, bitterness, saltiness, and spiciness. Through curious and thoughtful questions, they uncover the common threads that connect us all.
In the second half, the guest artists take to the stage for a collaborative performance weaving together elements from the full evening.
This intimate and dynamic event continues the work of Shunyu’s residency, Memory Quilt, celebrating connection, creativity, and the rich tapestry of our shared humanity.
-
Shunyu Huang
Shunyu Huang 黃順玉 is a martial artist, photographer, culture educator and poet, born and raised in the coastal city Zhuhai in southern China.Shunyu seeks to connect people through weaving our unique yet common stories and culture into a fabric. She is a frequent lecturer at UNCA, AB-TECH where she shares Chinese culture through literature, tea, and calligraphy.
In the summer of 2023, she became the first Chinese artist-in-resident at Story Parlor, where she gathered the community to share their memories through the five senses.
In January 2024, Shunyu created the first Asian Culture Festival in Asheville. She believes that in the art that we manifest and share, we can see the humanity that we have in common, despite our differences.
Five Spice is a new project which sprouted in Shunyu’s daily cooking and conversing in the kitchen, with hopes to cultivate expressions of curiosity amongst different people.
-
Carolina Quiroga
Carolina Quiroga is a storyteller, performer, and proud immigrant from Colombia. She came to the U.S. for grad school and ended up staying for love, biscuits, and an endless stream of mispronunciations of her name. Her stories blend personal chaos, cultural collisions, and the kind of heart that comes from building a life far from home. Carolina tells tales in English, Spanish, and sometimes both at once—depending on the audience’s stamina. Whether she’s on stage, at a library, or on your street with the lights out and a flashlight under her chin, she’s here to make you laugh, feel, and maybe see your own story a little differently.
Lately, she’s been leaning into story-theater—where she remains the narrator, but the audience gets to jump in with puppets and props to bring the tale to life. It’s messy, fun, and full of surprises. Now she’s taking it a step further, twisting traditional tales into something delightfully unexpected—with sharp turns, big laughs, and just the right amount of weird.
-
Ramin Gillett
From his childhood years in a small mountain town to a chance encounter with a food vendor in Haiti, Ramin's poetry explores the delicate tension that exists between the ways we alienate each other and our collective desire for identity and belonging. He draws upon his unique background of navigating multiple cultural realities to explore the vastness and diversity of the human landscape, simultaneously challenging us to go beyond our narrow lenses and embrace a larger reality, one that allows for forgiveness and healing.
Ramin Gillett, the son of an Iranian-Iraqi mother and American father, grew up in Cameroon, West Africa. He is a writer and facilitator committed to creating spaces for deep connection, reflection, and transformation. With a background in storytelling, education, and community-building, Ramin designs experiences that help people make meaning of their lives and discover their shared humanity.
