With its white wheels, colorful painted flowers and striped frame, the three-wheeled rickshaw of Qazi Aied Iqbal’s youth is certainly one of a kind.

“This is the one that I used to ride for shorter commutes back in my childhood,” says Iqbal of a model replica that he brought with him when he immigrated to America from Bangladesh in his late 20s. “When I look at it, it reminds me of memories from my childhood.”

A portrait of Iqbal holding a replica of his childhood rickshaw will be on display at The Valentine as part of its new exhibit, “Generations: Stories of Asian Americans in Richmond.”

Created in a partnership between the museum, the 1882 Project and the Asian American Society of Central Virginia (AASoCV), the exhibition relates the personal stories of roughly three dozen Asian Americans in the Richmond region.

Each portrait, taken by photographer Dave Pearson, highlights a member of the local Asian American community alongside an object that resonates with them. One portrait features a father and son with an orchid; they own one of the largest wholesale orchid retailers on the East Coast. Another portrays a woman holding a cleaver who discusses the cultural importance of food.

Angel Zhu is seen with her pipa, a traditional Chinese musical instrument. Zhu says playing the pipa  makes her feel more connected with her cultural background.

“We have everything from pieces of jewelry to toys to a bike to a hat to pieces of art,” says Meg Hughes, The Valentine’s deputy director of collections. “You can’t necessarily tell from looking at the object what the significance of that object is until you read the text panel.”

Johnny Phan, a first-generation Cambodian American cyclist whose parents fled the Khmer Rouge genocide in the 1970s, is represented by a photo of him riding a bike. Growing up in Richmond, Phan distanced himself from his heritage in an effort to assimilate, but later rode with the Cambodian National Cycling Team and competed in the Southeast Asian Games. Phan’s story is the subject of the recent VPM-presented documentary “Chasing Cambodia” (full disclosure: VPM owns Style).

“The picture [of Phan] is almost just a blur because of his racing bike, but through his racing he reconnects his ties to Cambodia,” says Ting-Yi Oei, education director for the 1882 Project.

To identify potential participants for the exhibition, the AASoCV reached out to local Asian American communities.

“Each individual had to select an object of their choice that reminds them of their homeland,” explains Iqbal, who serves on the board of trustees and is former vice chair of the AASoCV. “We got a huge response.”

P2 Sandhu is photographed at his home in Goochland County alongside a painting he commissioned to honor his parents.

“Generations” was inspired by “Your Story, Our Story,” a similar online exhibition curated by the Tenement Museum in New York City with assistance from the 1882 Project. Unlike most Valentine exhibitions, “Generations” doesn’t have a curator; instead, it was put together collaboratively between the museum, the 1882 Project and the AASoCV.

Based in Washington, D.C., the nonprofit 1882 Project was formed in 2009 with the goal of getting Congress to condemn the Chinese Exclusion Act and pass resolutions upholding civil rights for all inhabitants of America.

Signed into law in 1882 by President Chester A. Arthur, the Chinese Exclusion Act banned all immigration of Chinese laborers to the United States for 10 years, denied Chinese residents in America the ability to become citizens, and required Chinese people traveling into or out of the country to carry a certificate identifying their status. The act is considered the first major restriction on free immigration in U.S. history and shaped what immigration policy would look like in the 20th century.

In 2011, the U.S. Senate unanimously condemned the Chinese Exclusion Act; the U.S. House followed suit the next year.

The new exhibition comes at a time when immigrant communities are under fire from the Trump administration. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has ramped up arrests and deportations, leading to large-scale protests around the country.; the recent passing of Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” will spike ICE’s annual budget from about $8 billion to roughly $28 billion, adding thousands of new deportation agents and making ICE the most highly funded law enforcement agency in the federal government.

During this period of uncertainty, Oei says he’s been heartened by efforts like this collaboration with The Valentine.

“It’s a little bit of a dicier time to be talking about some of these things for sure,” he says. “We’re impacted by current views towards immigrants and all of that, but we are hoping this is a way to bridge some of those gaps of understanding between ourselves as Asians more broadly and the various communities that make up our society.”

“Generations: Stories of Asian Americans in Richmond” is on display through May 25, 2026, at The Valentine, 1015 E. Clay St. For more information, visit thevalentine.org. This story originally appeared at styleweekly.com