Photo credit: Hannah Claudia
Homeward Bound: Global Intimacies in Converging Chinatowns uses photographs, oral histories, and multimedia archives to highlight stories of migration, displacement, and everyday resilience in Chinatowns around the world. Join curators Huiying B. Chan, Mei Lum, Diane Wong, and Pao Arts Center for a reflection on the necessity of art in these current times and a guided walk through of their exhibition Homeward Bound. Community members will read their personal love letters to Boston Chinatown and respond to the exhibition with their own stories. We will conclude with an opportunity for all participants to share their own stories of grief, love, and hope for the future.
Homeward Bound is the first of its kind to honor, preserve, and build on the history and present day issues of Chinatowns through community-led and curated narratives from residents globally. As Chinatowns around the world continue to change and the diaspora is uprooted, it is imperative that stories at risk of being displaced are well preserved for future generations.
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About the Curators
Photo credit: Hannah Claudia
Huiying B. Chan is a creative writer, cultural organizer, and scholar born and raised in New York City. Their body of work centers diaspora, collective healing, love, and intergenerational and ancestral resistance and resilience. Huiying received the Knafel Fellowship to travel solo to Chinatowns in eight countries around the world documenting global stories of migration and resilience across the diaspora.
Diane Wong is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University-Newark. As a first-generation Chinese American born and raised in Flushing, Queens in New York City, her research is intimately tied to the Asian diaspora and urban immigrant experience.
Mei Lum is the 5th generation owner of her family’s over century-old porcelain ware business and the oldest operating store in NYC's Chinatown, Wing on Wo & Co. (W.O.W.). In light of Chinatown's rapid cultural displacement, Mei established community initiative, the W.O.W. Project in 2016 out of a desire to amplify community voices and stories through art, culture, and activism.
This exhibition is brought to Pao Arts Center with generous support from Mass Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, finding, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of Mass Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Contact: Sung-Min Kim