The arrival of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month has come at a particularly difficult moment. It has been nearly two months since shootings at three Atlanta-area spas left eight people dead — including six women of Asian descent — and in AAPI communities across the country, pain, tears, frustration and loss continues to reverberate.

For many, the grief has been compounded by a growing sense of fear over facing violence or harassment in their own lives. Indeed, many already have. On the same day as the Georgia shootings, the group Stop AAAPI Hate released a report documenting 3,795 “hate incidents” against Asian Americans between March 2020 and February 2021 — a figure the group said was likely a vast undercount.

To help understand these challenges, we invited a group of AAPI photographers to share their reflections on the violence and on what Asian community, culture and life really looks like. Here is what they had to say.