Join us for the opening of our next gallery, At Home in Chinatown: A Residence Lab Retrospective, an exhibition highlighting four years of Pao Arts Center’s unique Residence Lab Arts Residency program (ResLab), in partnership with the Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC). The opening reception will take place on Thursday, July 27, from 5:30 to 8:30 pm at Pao Arts Center. The exhibition will be on view from July 27 through October 13, 2023. Learn more about ResLab and stay tuned for more details.  

The closing exhibition, At Home in Chinatown: A Residence Lab Retrospective, features six past projects by artist-resident teams from each year that gives insight into ResLab’s distinctive creative process.

Participating Artists and Residents: (‘19) Tarik Bartel, Joyce Chen, and Maggie Chen, (‘19) Crystal Bi, Lily Xie , Pihua Lin, and Yuyi Li, (‘20) Maria Fong, Sylvia Chen, and Po Chun Chow, (‘21) Yuko Okabe, Kathy Wu Amy Lam, and Elaine Liang, (‘22) Ann Dinh Alison M, and Winnie Yuen, and (‘22) Amanda Beard Garcia, Yanna Chen, and Xingyao He.

Curated by: Lily Song, an urban planner, scholar-activist, and Assistant Professor of Race, Social Justice & the Built Environment at Northeastern University.

History of Residence Lab

Since 2019, local artists and Chinatown residents have taken part in Residence Lab (ResLab), a yearly artist residency that activates spaces in Boston Chinatown through culturally affirming co-designed public art. Over the last four years, this community-driven residency program has contributed to Chinatown’s contemporary cultural identity and spaces. Community members, program alumni, and the public are invited to celebrate the conclusion of the ResLab program with this retrospective exhibition and reception, interactive workshop, and September alumni panel.

ResLab’s curriculum merged neighborhood histories with unique strategies for creating community-centered public art while highlighting the dignity, vibrancy, and imagination of its inhabitants in the face of a long history of gentrification and institutional neglect toward Chinatown residents. The resulting projects, co-designed by artist and resident fellows, were temporarily installed each year at key sites across Chinatown. 

Each year, Pao Arts Center and ACDC selected a theme to inspire and inform the program’s workshops and co-creative public installations, based on the 2020 Chinatown Master Plan. Past activation sites and themes include the Chinatown Backyard at the Hudson Street Lot (“Oasis” + “Portal”), Mary Soo Hoo Park (“Collective Care”), and the Tufts Community Common on the Tufts University’s Health Sciences Campus (“Radical Inclusion”). 

Upcoming Public Program Dates at Pao Arts Center

Opening Reception: Thursday, July 27, 5:30 – 8:30 pm

“Remembering and Remaking Chinatown” Workshop: Thursday, July 27, 6:00 – 7:45 pm

Residence Lab Alumni Spotlight Panel: Saturday, September 23, 1:00 – 3:00 pm

Contact arts@bcnc.net for more information

About the Artists

Tarik Bartel

Tarik Bartel (they/them) is a trans and non-binary Thai-American artist based in Providence, RI. Tarik is a photographer, an award-winning filmmaker, and a spoken word poet. Tarik has worked as a teaching artist, youth worker, and community organizer in the Greater Boston area since 2014. Tarik is passionate about: making art more accessible, letting young people do things, and the color yellow.

Tarik Bartel (他們) 是在羅德島州普羅維登斯 (Providence, RI) 的跨性別和非二元性別泰裔美國藝術家。 Tarik 是一位攝影師、屢獲殊榮的電影製片人和口語詩人。自 2014 年以來，Tarik 一直在大波士頓地區擔任教學藝術家、青年工作者和社區組織者。Tarik 熱衷於：讓藝術變得更容易接觸，讓年輕人做事情，以及黃色。

Crystal Bi

Crystal Bi (she/they) is a queer, first generation, mixed race, Taiwanese American, multimedia artist working in the public realm. Her participatory art projects explore themes of radical imagination, creative archiving, and belonging. As a public artist, educator at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, former Boston Public School art teacher and former Creative Civic Design Lead with Design Studio for Social Intervention, Crystal works with communities to design creative interventions that imagine possible futures. She is currently fulfilling a dream of building a phone booth through the Public Art for Spatial Justice cohort.

Crystal Bi(她/他們)是一名酷兒，第一代混血兒，台裔美國人，在公共領域工作的多媒體藝術家。她的參與性藝術項目探索激進的想像、創意歸檔和歸屬感等主題。 作為一名公共藝術家、麻省藝術與設計學院(Massachusetts College of Art and Design)的教育家、波士頓公立學校(Boston Public School)的前藝術教師和社會幹預設計工作室(Design Studio for Social Intervention)的前創意城市設計主管，Crystal 與社區合作設計創意幹預措施，以想像可能的未來。 她目前正在通過空間正義的公共藝術(Public Art Spatial Justice)團隊實現建造電話亭的夢想。

Lily Xie

Lily Xie (she/they) is a Chinese-American artist and educator whose socially-engaged work explores desire, memory, and self-actualization for communities at the margins. In collaboration with local residents and grassroots organizers, she facilitates creative projects with a focus on public space, housing, and racial justice. The work they create together often takes the form of animation, print media, and public art. Lily is currently an Artist-in-Residence for the City of Boston.

Lily Xie（她）是一位美籍華人藝術家和教育家，她參與的社會作品探索邊緣社區的慾望、記憶和自我實現。她與當地居民和基層組織者合作，推動了一些專注於公共空間、住房和種族正義的創意項目。他們共同創作的作品是通常採用動畫、印刷媒體和公共藝術的形式。 Lily 目前是波士頓市(City of Boston)的藝術家駐留。

Maria Fong

Maria Fong (they/them) is an artist from Berkeley, California. A 2021 graduate of the BFA program at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, they work in hand drawn and stop motion animation, drawing, performance art, and bookmaking. Maria's collaborative artworks explore racialized and politicized spaces, community building, and participatory storytelling.

Maria Fong（他們）是一位來自加利福尼亞州伯克利(Berkeley, California)的藝術家。他們於2021年畢業於塔夫茨大學美術館學校(the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University)的藝術學士學位，從事手繪和定格動畫、繪畫、表演藝術和書籍製作工作。 Maria的合作藝術作品探索種族化和政治化的空間、社區建設和參與性的故事講述。

Kathy Wu

Kathy Wu (she/they) is an artist, writer, and educator based in Providence RI (Narragansett). She is currently an MFA candidate at Brown University Literary Arts where she is working on an artist book about histories of science, place and space. She also loves to make zines and facilitate bookmaking and art workshops, and is passionate about community art practices and holding space for young people.

Kathy Wu（她/他們）是一位居住在普羅維登斯羅德島州 (Providence RI)（納拉甘西特 Narragansett）的藝術家、作家和教育家。她目前是布朗大學 (Brown University) 文學藝術學院的藝術碩士候選人，正在撰寫一本關於科學、地方和空間歷史的藝術書籍。她還喜歡製作雜誌、促進書籍製作和藝術研討會，並熱衷於社區藝術實踐和為年輕人提供空間。

Yuko Okabe

Yuko Okabe (she/they) is an illustrator and cultural worker playing at the intersection of youthful whimsy and community engagement. She likes making characters, stories, curriculums, murals, and other colorful things.

Yuko Okabe(她/他們)是一位插畫家和文化工作者，在年輕人奇思妙想的想法和社區參與的交叉點上遊玩。她喜歡製作人物、故事、課程、壁畫和其他豐富多彩的東西。

Ann Dinh

Ann (she/they) is an emerging designer based in Philadelphia, specializing in industrial design, architecture, and graphic visualization. She recently graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design, earning her Master of Industrial Design. Ann's approach involves developing products tailored to the needs of particular communities, ensuring that context and culture are thoughtfully embedded in the product's form and materiality.

Ann(她/他們)是費城 (Philadelphia) 的一名新興設計師，專業於工業設計、建築和圖形可視化。她最近從羅得島設計學院 (Rhode Island School of Design) 畢業，獲得了工業設計碩士學位。 Ann的設計方法包括開發適合特定社區需求的產品，確保環境和文化被深思熟慮地嵌入到產品的形式和材料中。

Amanda Beard Garcia

Amanda Beard Garcia (she/they) is a multiracial Chinese American muralist, illustrator, and brand designer. She holds a BFA in Illustration from RISD. Her work typically incorporates punchy colors, typography, and portraiture while exploring concepts surrounding belonging and activism. Amanda is principal of Likemind Design, a custom mural and branding studio in Dracut, MA. She has been a participant of many local public art initiatives and has designed custom artwork and brand identities for small businesses all over Greater Boston.

Amanda Beard Garcia (她/他們) 是一位多種族的華裔美國壁畫家、插畫家和品牌設計師。她擁有羅德島設計學院(RISD)插畫藝術學士學位。她的作品通常結合了強烈的色彩，排版和肖像，同時探索圍繞歸屬感和行動主義的概念。 Amanda是「志同道合設計」 (Likemind Design) 的負責人，這是一家位於馬薩諸塞州德拉古特 (Dracut, MA) 的定制壁畫和品牌工作室。她參與了許多當地的公共藝術活動，並為大波士頓地區的小企業設計了定製藝術品和品牌標識。

About the Residents

Maggie Chen

Maggie Chen (she/her) is a long-time Chinatown resident leader and organizer. Boston Chinatown provided her a sense of going back to China, feeling very kind and very lively. She hopes Residence Lab can make people more focused on Chinatown. She hopes that, through this project, it can attract more young people’s attention to Chinatown, which could help this area to get more energy.

陳潔霞 (Maggie Chen) 是唐人街的長期居民領袖和組織者。波士頓唐人街給了她一種回到中國的感覺，感覺很親切和很熱鬧。她希望《居民與藝術》(Residence Lab) 能讓人們更加關注唐人街。她希望通過這個項目，能夠吸引更多年輕人對唐人街的關注，讓這個地區獲得更多的活力。

Joyce Chen

Joyce Chen (she/her) is a long-time resident and active community member in Chinatown. Joyce is a mother with three children, whose daily life is made easier with access to Chinatown. She hopes for her children to pass the Chinatown culture on to the next generation.

彩嬌 (Joyce Chen) (她) 是唐人街的長期居民和活躍的社區成員。彩嬌是三名孩子的母親，住在唐人街使她們更方便出入。她希望她的孩子們能把唐人街的文化傳到下一代。

Pihua Lin

Pihua Lin (she/her), a resident of Chinatown for 13 years, joined Residence Lab with the goal of preserving Chinatown's culture and creating more resources and opportunities for immigrants. Pihua works in an after-school tutoring program in Chinatown. She believes that the art created at Residence Lab can be expressed as a resident and reflect the needs of the community.

林碧華 (Pihua Lin) (她) 在唐人街居住了十三年，她加入《居民與藝術》(Residence Lab) 的目的是保護唐人街的文化和為移民創造更多的資源和機會。碧華是在唐人街的一個課後輔導班工作。她相信在《居民與藝術》(Residence Lab) 創作的藝術可以作為居民來表達並反映社區的需求。

Sylvia Chen

Sylvia Chen (she/her) has lived in Chinatown for 8 years and lived in Quincy before that. She is a mom of two kids and cares about transportation, community safety and health. Sylvia likes arts and nature and wants to make new friends and learn new things. She is interested in design, sketching, animation, and cooking, etc.

陳曉儀 (Sylvia Chen) (她) 之前住昆士，現在在唐人街住了八年。她有兩個孩子。她關心交通，社區安全及衛生。她喜歡藝術與自然，結交新的朋友與學習新事物。她對設計、素描、動漫、烹飪等都很感興趣。

Po Chun

Po Chun (she/her) has lived in Chinatown for six years and is excited about learning other people's stories. Po Chun cares about the cleanliness of Chinatown and is interested in Cooking, Gardening, and Knitting.

寶珍 (Po Chun) (她) 已經在唐人街住了七年，對於了解別人的故事感到很興奮。寶珍關心唐人街的清潔，並對烹飪、園藝和針織感興趣。

Elaine Liang (农英)

Elaine Liang (农英) (she/her) has lived in Chinatown for 12 years and works at Asian American Civic Association as daycare worker. She cares about environmental sanitation and Chinatown history. Elaine enjoys theater, dancing, film, and gardening. She looks forward to collaborating with artists to co-create artworks that make people say “this is about care.”

梁農英 (Elaine Liang) (她) 在唐人街生活了12年，在華美福利會(Asian American Civic Association)擔任日托工作者。她關心環境衛生和唐人街的歷史。農英喜歡戲劇、舞蹈、電影、烹飪和園藝。她期待著與藝術家合作，共同創作出讓人們說：「這就是關愛」的藝術作品。

Amy Lam

Amy Lam (林丽莹) (she/her) is a Chinatown resident who is passionate about learning, creating cultural knowledge and resources to help one another, and improving the environment to be more healthy for all. At ResLab, she wants to see artwork that highlights important Chinatown issues, such as better air quality, clean environment, and more peace.

林麗瑩 (Amy Lam) (她) 是唐人街居民，她熱衷於學習、創造文化知識和資源，以幫助彼此和改善環境，讓所有人都更健康。在《居民與藝術》(ResLab) ，她希望看到能夠突出唐人街重要問題的藝術作品，例如更好的空氣質量、更清潔的環境和更加和平。

Alison M

Alison (she/they) is a Black-Puerto Rican resident of Chinatown. She has lived in Chinatown for about 1 year. They are interested in gardening, poetry/writing, painting, film, music and interactive art.
“As a resident, what I want people to know about Chinatown is the history beyond the tourism and superficial. Such as how there was a movement for women to join the workforce when a telephone switching station was first built on Essex Street. I also want people to know the neighborhood had a diverse history of Irish, Syrian, Italian immigrants prior to the migration of Chinese immigrants migrating from San Francisco to Boston.”

Alison(她/他们) 是一位黑波多黎各的唐人街居民，在唐人街生活一年了。 Alison對園藝、詩歌/寫作、繪畫、電影、音樂和互動藝術感興趣。

「作為一名居民，我希望人們了解唐人街不只是一個旅遊地方和表面的歷史。 例如，在Essex街首次建立電話交換站時，唐人街居民曾組織讓女性加入勞動力。 我還想讓人們知道，在舊金山華裔移民遷移到波士頓之前，這個社區有愛爾蘭、敘利亞、意大利移民的多樣化歷史。」

Manchu “Winnie” Yuen

Manchu “Winnie” Yuen (she/her) has lived in Chinatown for 15 years. She is interested in food, swimming, videos and art.
“What I want people to know about Chinatown is its culture and background, [because] if everyone understands these, they can understand each other more and break social barriers.”
Looking back at ResLab: “I very much enjoyed the whole event. I just so enjoy every moment. Every minute. Thanks May for bringing me to this program.”

阮曼珠 (Manchu "Winnie" Yuen) (她) 在唐人街生活15年了。她對美食、游泳、視頻和藝術感興趣。
「我想讓人們了解唐人街的文化和背景，[因為] 如果大家都了解這些，他們可以互相包容和打破社會障礙。」
回顧《居民與藝術》(ResLab)：「我非常享受整個活動。我享受每一分每一刻。感謝May邀請我參加這次活動。」

Xingyao He

Xingyao (she/her) has lived in Chinatown for 11 years. As a resident, she wants people to learn about Chinatown and Chinese culture. As a ResLab participant, she enjoyed communicating and learning with her team. She has made many new friends and feels honored to have been in the program.

何杏瑤 (Xingyao) (她) 在唐人街生活11年了。身為居民，她希望人們了解唐人街和中國文化。作為《居民與藝術》(ResLab)的參與者，她對與團隊交流和學習很感興趣。她交了很多新朋友，也很榮幸能參加這個項目。

Yanna Chen (陈燕娜)

Yanna (陈燕娜) (she/her) has lived in Chinatown for 9 years. She is passionate about the lives and health of Chinatown residents and the future of Chinatown.
ResLab has made her realize the many meaningful community events happening in the community. She has also made many new friends and hopes to attend more events in the future. She enjoys living life without worry.

陳燕娜 (Yanna Chen) (她) 在唐人街生活9年了。她對唐人街居民的生活、健康、以及唐人街的未來感興趣.
《居民與藝術》(ResLab)讓燕娜讓認識了原來在社區有這麼多有意義的項目。她也認識了很多新朋友。她希望未來還要多多參加這些活動。她享受無憂無慮的生活。

Over the centuries, artists have created images and illustrations in response to the world around them, to tell stories or to amplify messages of protest and solidarity, especially during times of widespread crisis and upheaval. This has been especially true for AAPI artists today, as our community continues to navigate multi-pandemics, including COVID-19 and its reverberations, and the rise of anti-Asian discrimination and violence. Like other illustrators over the years, local Boston AAPI artists have responded to these tragedies with images and words of resistance and of comfort.  

Call and Response: Illustration in Uncertain Times features illustrations and graphic designs by seven local AAPI artists who have used their craft to speak to this complicated moment. As with other kinds of labor, these artistic gestures offer critical support to the community by giving voice to different experiences and encouraging care.  

Curated by: Leslie Anne Condon

Participating Artists: Deborah Johnson, payal kumar, Lillian Lee, Shaina Lu, Yuko Okabe, Sanika Phawde, Wen-ti Tsen 

Opening Reception | Friday, March 31, 2023 | 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Registration is required, please register here.

Contact Leslie Condon, Visual Arts Manager, with questions Leslie.Condon@bcnc.net

As part of Call and Response, we have invited Boston-area artists to submit zine artwork in response to the themes of the show, curated by Pao Arts Center Spring 2023 interns, Rachel Liang, Christina Yang, and Steven Zhu. Please see the list of selected works below!

Pampi Amdas + Ebbie Russell for the Neighborhood Grow Plan | Spirited Global Resistance Ninnauwaet/Pópon* (Fall/Winter* in Nipmuc language) last of 4 seasonal zines to mark seasonal changes in light | 2022 | Collage and Digital Art | 17 x 11

Asian American Resource Workshop’s Environmental Justice Working Group | Rice Water | 2021 | Mixed media | 8.5 x 11

Asian Students in Alliance’s Lunchbox Magazine | Fall 2021 | 2021 | Glossy paper | 8.5 x 5.5

Maya Beach + Asian Coalition Massachusetts | summer workshop zine | 2022 | Digital Collage | 8.5 x 11

Jennifer Duan | Lessons in Internalizing Self-Love | 2023 | Digital Print | 3 x 4.5

Maria Fong | Sorting Through | 2020 | 40 page zine, 5.5 x 8.5

Anne Hu | This I Hope | 2023 | traditional ink stone and bush (mo and mao bi) | 2.75 x 4.25

Katelyn Lipton | We are Tigers | 2023 | pen on paper | 9 x 12 unfolded

Untangle BU | SWEET/BITTER | 2022 | satin printing and soft touch lamination | 5 x 8

Keith Khanh Truong | Mẹ: a story told by her son | Risograph printed with Yellow, Fluorescent Pink, Cornflower Blue, and Flat Gold on French Paper. Coil bound | 5 x 7

About the Artists

For over thirty years, artist and activist Wen-ti Tsen has utilized his ideas and artistic practice to advocate for the local neighborhood and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. His latest project, Chinatown Worker Statues, pays tribute to the workers who have uplifted Boston Chinatown through their essential labor over the decades. The four sets of clay models Tsen has developed for the project represent four different workers from the Chinese immigrant community: the laundryman, the restaurant worker, the garment worker, and the grandmother tending a child. Each set of figures will serve as models in the creation of life-sized figures to be cast into bronze, to be permanently installed in prominent public spaces across Chinatown. These statues will offer a more complex and diverse reflection of our local histories and question who is celebrated through public art in our City. 

The Chinatown Worker Statues project was initially funded by the Public Art for Spatial Justice grant from New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) and has been endorsed and fully funded as an artist-initiated project, with a full budget, by the Boston City's Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture, with approval from the Boston Arts Commission. It will be realized in the coming months and be installed for the world to see. 

Opening Reception | Friday, March 31, 2023 | 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Registration is required, please register here.

Contact Leslie Condon, Visual Arts Manager, with questions Leslie.Condon@bcnc.net

About the Artist

Under the Oak Tree: Red Oak Winter Showcase

On view from December 21 – February 24 (Previously February 25)

Join the students of the Red Oak Program at Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC) as they explore themes of fantasy, community, and tradition! From the beginning of the school year, students have been learning new sculpting and drawing techniques, practicing and composing melodies on the piano and in song, and exploring poetry through a dramatic lens.

Read more and see photos from the exhibit’s opening day on our blog post.

Gallery Hours:

• Wednesdays 1:00 - 5:00 pm 

• Thursdays 1:00 - 6:00 pm 

• Fridays 1:00 - 5:00 pm 

Holiday Closures: Saturday, December 24 - Tuesday, January 3, 2023

Appointments welcome. Special Weekend Hours on Sunday, January 29 11:00 am - 5:00 pm.

View our visitor policy.

About Red Oak at Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC) 

Through visual arts and music classes, BCNC engages children 5 - 13 in creative expression to improve children's academic skills, social-emotional development, and language development. Through engaging literacy activities and projects, BCNC supports children to become critical thinkers with strong reading and writing skills, as well as reflective citizens that can come to a greater understanding of themselves and the world around them. 

GHOST ROOTS: A New 강강술래 Ganggangsullae

Reception, Screening, and Talk | Thur, Sept. 22 | 6:00 – 8:00 pm

On view from September 22 – December 2

Closing Screening | Thurs, December 1 | 6:30 - 7:30 pm

GHOST ROOTS: A New 강강술래 Ganggangsullae, is a new site-specific installation by multi-media artist Soyoung L Kim, inspired by her performance art film of the same name. Designed as a complimentary experience to the film (originally released in spring 2022), the site-specific installation combines visual elements, audio stories, and interactive components for audiences to explore.

Through GHOST ROOTS, Multi-disciplinary Artist Kim explores the possibilities of a future of solidarity, care, and celebration through the stories of two Asian American women. In this interactive exhibit, Kim asks, “Can America’s attempt at reconciliation/Extend beyond black and white?/Can America’s embrace include/The yellow of my skin?”

Gallery Hours:

• Wednesdays 1:00 - 5:00 pm 

• Thursdays 1:00 - 7:00 pm 

• Fridays 1:00 - 5:00 pm 

• Saturdays 1:00 – 5:00 pm 

• Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays: Closed 

View our visitor policy.

About the Artist:

Soyoung L Kim

Soyoung L Kim’s work blends several practices, including painting, sculpture, writing, stop motion animation, and performance. As 교포 Gyopo, as part of the Korean diaspora, she moves freely across artistic disciplines to create new works that blend those disciplines and to break those boundaries. Her work is influenced by her own childhood of many moves and displacements and the many stories she has gathered over the three continents she has called home. Kim’s work aims to transport us to a place of liberation, where we are free from colonization and the burdens of racism, fear and hate.

Yng-Ru Chen is the Founder and CEO of the Boston-based Praise Shadows Art Gallery, a hybrid space emphasizing exhibitions by emerging and mid-career contemporary artists, a retail space for art books and lower-value works made by artists, and mentorship for young talent. She also oversees Praise Shadows Art Partners, which works closely with artists to develop opportunities in emerging models of creativity and entrepreneurship — exhibitions, commissions, brand partnerships, new technologies, original concepts that no one has ever tried before. She previously worked at MoMA P.S.1, Sotheby's, Asia Society, and Tattly. www.praiseshadows.com

Residence Lab 2022 Exhibit

Experience art installations that are the culmination of 16 weeks of creative collaboration between Chinatown residents and local artists, focusing on the 2022 theme of Radical Inclusion. Learn more about this year’s theme and cohort members here. See previous years’ ResLab projects here.

Join us for the ResLab 2022 Mid-Exhibit Community Celebration to meet this year’s cohort in person and to learn more about their co-creation process. Register below.

Sanctuary, 2022

Team Powerful Painted Ladies: Amanda Beard Garcia, Yanna Chen, and Xingyao He

Printed paper, wheat paste, wood, paint, chalk, mixed dimensions

Sanctuary is an interactive drawing installation featuring a 20-foot-long wheat paste tiger, cherry blossoms, and chalkboard easels. Dreamt up by residents Yanna Chen and Xingyao He and artist Amanda Beard Garcia, Sanctuary is prompted by our own memories of belonging: fresh air, relaxation, safety, freedom, and creativity. We were amused by the children’s chalk drawings found on nearly every reachable surface in the space — the brick walls, the sidewalk, even the trees — and wanted to inspire more creative expression from visitors of all ages.

The larger-than-life tiger is a symbol of 2022 and our collective community’s resilience, strength, and protection. The cherry blossoms represent grace and renewal during challenging moments. The chalkboard easels encourage more drawing onto otherwise un-writable surfaces. Visitors are welcome to contribute their own ephemeral chalk flowers, messages, or drawings onto the brick wall and easels. These sharings will fade and layer over time to inspire and make room for more. We hope that our project will cultivate feelings of comfort, creativity, and joy to anyone who enters this park.

Sanctuary is part of the 2022 Residence Lab exhibition at Tufts Community Common. The team has affectionately named their group “Powerful Painting Ladies.”

Tranquil, 2022

Team Body is a Canvas: Victoria Lai, Janiqwa Johnson, and Peiqiong Wu

Fiberglass, acrylic paint, wood

Tranquil is a collaborative piece created by Victoria Lai, Janiqwa Johnson, and Peiqiong Wu that nurtures a peaceful and welcoming atmosphere in the Tufts Community Common. Parks and green spaces are important to have within our communities since they help support a relaxing environment for our Chinatown community. Our neighbors, family, and friends of Chinatown have faced so much violence, dehumanization, and exclusion in their own home, and Tranquil invites us all to gather in nature to rest and breathe. 

Through our bird fountain installation, the team hopes to foster a relaxing space. They noticed that many birds come into this park and wanted to create a place for even the birds to relax and bathe. Near the fountain is a birdhouse with food where they can meet to eat together. Water is such a calming aspect of nature, and the team hopes visitors might feel a sense of peace as they look at and listen to the flowing water and chirping birds. Every hand-painted word on the fountain was chosen by Janiqwa and Peiqiong because of the peace and comfort the words bring into their lives. Offering a sense of comfort is so vital to create a community that feels accepted, supported, and included.
Tranquil is part of the 2022 Residence Lab exhibition at Tufts Community Common. The team named themselves “Body As a Canvas” to reference their love for fashion as an art form to express themselves.

Welcome Home, 2022

Team Pork Fried Rice: Ann Dinh, Allison M, & Winnie Yuen

Mixed Media - wood, paper, plastic, digital media 

Radical Inclusion invites you to visit and engage with the Boston Chinatown community. We have created a space for different people to partake and have agency in shaping the way we live and move forward as a community.

Welcome Home is a montage of individuals accepting others into this space with the warmth and reception that every visitor or resident deserves. Sometimes that looks like preparing a hot pot of tea. Other times it may be a dog bounding towards the door, with a drooling tongue and flapping ears. These stories serve as a reminder that it’s the distinct and diverse residents of this community that make Boston what it is.

This project is a beacon within this underutilized urban park, located in the heart of Tufts University’s graduate campus. We hope that Welcome Home reminds members of the community that, even in the face of pervasive gentrification and in spite of movements to push residents farther out, you are not only accepted…but that you also feel you belong here. We encourage all who visit to reflect on a time they felt that space was made for them and when they found a true sense of belonging.

Welcome Home is part of the 2022 Residence Lab exhibition at Tufts Community Common. The team, lovingly named “Pork Fried Rice” after their favorite comfort food, hopes that people will feel a sense of inclusion through this collective narrative.  

Residence Lab 2022 is a partnership between Pao Arts Center, Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC), and Tufts University.

Thank you to our Residence Lab 2022 Sponsors:

Our ability to dream and imagine our futures is greatly influenced by how we interpret our AAPI histories. Dreaming of more just and equitable realities can transform whole neighborhoods, communities, and societies, but we can only envision more inclusive and expansive social structures if we fully account for the conditions of our present and past, alongside other historically subordinated communities. This segment of the exhibition features artists who address aspects of our present society and also help us dream of better futures. 

The Collective Imaginary is part of New Narratives curated by guest curator Leslie Anne Condon and first exhibited in 2020 through Unbound Visual Arts. 

Participating Artists: Yanni Niki Li , Ponnapa Prakkamakul, Micah Rose, Jessica TranVo, and Tran Vu

Opening Reception:

Friday, May 27 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm

Gallery Hours:

• Wednesdays 1:00 - 5:00 pm 

• Thursdays 1:00 - 7:00 pm 

• Fridays 1:00 - 5:00 pm 

• Saturdays 1:00 – 5:00 pm 

• Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays: Closed 

View our visitor policy.

About the Artists:

Yanni Niki Li

Yanni Niki Li is a Chinese artist and designer who works primarily in graphic arts. Li’s work is based on the reflection of globalization on people's mindsets and contemporary ideologies. Li mainly uses the language of graphics to create an open dialogue on cultural appropriation, cross-cultural misinterpretation, and consumerism. Her artwork initiates a conversation with the audience and arouses their contemplation on the contemporary social issues that permeate our daily life.

Currently working passionately as a multimedia designer in New York City, Li holds an MFA degree from The School of The Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. Learn more about her work for the show here.

Ponnapa Prakkamakul

Ponnapa Prakkamakul is a Thai contemporary visual artist and a landscape architect based in Massachusetts. Through her work, she aims to gain a better understanding of cultural displacement and isolation issues as an immigrant. Ponnapa holds a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design where she received Lowthorpe Fellowship Award upon graduation. She is also a recipient of David Bethuel Jamieson Artist of Color Residency & Fellowship, Mount Auburn Cemetery Residency, Urbano Project Artist in Residence, Residence Lab’s artist-in-residence program at ACDC and the Pao Arts Center in Boston, and Manoog Family Artist Residency program at the Plumbing Museum in Watertown with four paintings in the museum’s permanent collection. Currently, Ponnapa is a member at Kingston Gallery and a landscape architect at Sasaki. Learn more about her work for the show here.

Micah Rose

micah rose kindles soft ferocity, in ode to titas and cousins and lolas who show us ways we love. They share traditions like story circles, yoga, and taiko as paths for communal care. She conjures at Arts Connect International, helping brew artist-led experiments as a co-director of emergence. Micah is thankful to learn & practice with chosen families ~ including peoples who collab at the Cultural Equity Incubator, Pao Arts Center, The Theater Offensive, Luya Poetry, Company One Theatre, The Design Studio for Social Intervention, and beyond. Toward Lumad sovereignty on her motherislands, Rose organizes with Liyang Network and weaves an Instagram avatar @micah_pdf. Learn more about her work for the show here.

Jessica Tranvo

Jessica TranVo is a Boston, Massachusetts artist that graduated from Bridgewater State in 2014 with Bachelor degrees in Fine Art and English Literature, with a minor in Art History. Her mixed media collages have a foundation in surreal paintings. Her work plays and distorts digital and/or analog found images. She is mixed Vietnamese American raised by mixed Vietnamese parents, aunts, and grandmothers. Her art can be found at: https://ennuiorsomething.com. Learn more about her work for the show here.

Tran Vu

Ngoc-Tran Vu (she/her) is a 1.5-generation Vietnamese-American multimedia artist and organizer whose socially engaged practice draws from her experience as a cultural connector, educator, and lightworker. Tran threads her social practice through photography, painting, sculpture and audio so that her art can resonate and engage audience with intentionality. Her work evokes discourse of familial ties, memories and rituals amongst themes of social justice and intersectionality. She is currently an adjunct faculty in Asian American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Tran works across borders and is based in Boston's Dorchester community. www.tranvuarts.com | @TranVuArts Learn more about her work for the show here.

About the Curator:

Leslie Anne Condon

Leslie Anne Condon is a Boston-area multidisciplinary artist and independent curator, interested in Critical Race Art History and issues of representation within the arts. She graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a degree in English and a minor in the Fine Arts. She briefly attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts as a Diploma student and earned her Post Baccalaureate in Fine Art 3D from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2011.

About the Partner:

Unbound Visual Arts

Unbound Visual Arts (UVA) is a unique Allston-Brighton-based non-profit art organization. We serve the Greater Boston community with impactful educational programs and exhibits to encourage learning, engagement, and change.

Contact: Leslie Condon, 617-863-9080 x 2017

View this special exhibit, part of our 2022 Lunar New Year Celebrations.

Traditional Lion Heads from across Asia 

This exhibit features traditional Lion heads representing various styles of Lion not normally seen in the US. These heads are all handmade and representative of various styles of Lion Dancing being performed in China, Malaysia, and Taiwan. Some of these heads represent specific styles of Lion Dance that are on the verge of being lost & forgotten.

Ken Morin 

Ken has called Boston Chinatown his home for the last 17 years, where he has lived, worked, and played. He has also been involved in Lion Dance for the last 24 years. Ken has traveled extensively throughout Asia and he is now back in Boston. After initially moving and living in Penang for 6 months, the first waves of COVID hit worldwide, shutting Malaysia into lockdown.  During this time Ken decided to devote his time to learning the art of Lion Head making.  This exhibit shows the results. 

Special Lunar New Year Drop-In Hours

• Tuesday, February 8, 1:00 - 5:00 pm

• Wednesday, February 9, 1:00 - 5:00 pm 

• Thursday, February 10, 1:00 - 7:00 pm 

• Friday, February 11, 1:00 - 5:00 pm 

• Saturday, February 12, 1:00 – 5:00 pm 

• Sunday February 13, 12:00 - 2:00 pm

Contact: Cynthia Woo | 617-863-9080

Storytelling across generations allows us to preserve and reimagine family histories and strengthen and advance community narratives. Stories also reinforce culture. Interpreting the stories of our elders for ourselves and each other allows the stories to live on in more expansive ways. How do we reinterpret our ancestor’s stories for ourselves? How do we acknowledge certain generational divides within our evolving society while still honoring our elders? Each artist in this segment of New Narratives addresses such questions through their artwork, sometimes piecing fragments together to tell a new story. 

Intergenerational Storytelling is part of New Narratives curated by guest curator Leslie Anne Condon and first exhibited in 2020 through Unbound Visual Arts. 

Participating Artists: Melody Hsu, Madeline Lee, Yuko Okabe, Matthew Okazaki, Melissa Teng, and Lily Xie.

Opening Reception (Virtual):

Thursday, January 27 from 6:00 to 7:30 pm

Gallery Hours:

Wednesdays 1:00 - 5:00 pm 

• Thursdays 1:00 - 7:00 pm 

• Fridays 1:00 - 5:00 pm 

• Saturdays 1:00 – 5:00 pm 

• Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays: Closed 

View our visitor policy.

Experience Intergenerational Storytelling with our 3D virtual tour:

Intergenerational Storytelling was on view at Pao Arts Center from January 27 to March 25, 2022.

About the Artists:

Melody Hsu

Melody Hsu is an international student from Taiwan—and as of the past five years—a proud Bostonian. As a socially engaged multidisciplinary creator, she believes that the soul of art and design is the human experience and that the heart is service. Melody dedicated 2021 to delivering multimedia experiences for equity as she curates work that strives to express, educate, and entertain. Learn more about her work for the show here.

Madeline Lee

Madeline Lee is an artist exploring the intersections of identity and place. She grew up near Cleveland, Ohio and has been based in the Boston area since 2015. Madeline studied at Tufts University, blending Environmental and Architectural Studies with her artistic practice. She has a deep curiosity for changing landscapes and the stories we tell through sharing food and spaces. Centered around process, her work is based in observing people, environmental shifts and the subtle processes that create our daily lives. Madeline's recent work has been shown with Unbound Visual Arts, Dorchester Art Project, Creatives of Color Boston, and at the 2021 in PUBLIC Festival. Learn more about her work for the show here.

Yuko Okabe

Starting with zany and colorful comics on the back of her father’s work papers, Yuko has since honed her artistic skills into stories and editorials that evoke whimsy, humility, and curiosity. In addition to her formally-trained illustration practice, she explores interdisciplinary collaborations to advocate for “arts-thinking’’ in non-traditional settings. Such endeavors have led her to research and team opportunities in fields such as healthcare, community development, education, technology, and social work. She earned her BFA in Illustration with Honors from the Rhode Island School of Design and has received recognition from Society of Illustrators LA, Creative Quarterly, BallPit Mag, Light Grey Art Lab, and 3x3 - The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration. Her illustration practice involves freelancing with various nonprofit, commercial, startup, and independent clients as well as pursuing personal work through paintings and short-form narratives. From 2019-2021, she was an Artist Fellow with North Shore Community Development Coalition through Enterprise Community Partners Rose Fellowship, a national program which places designers and cultural practitioners with affordable housing organizations. She's a proud auntie, has an oatmeal Instagram, and is hoping that one day she'll learn how to ride a bike. Learn more about her work for the show here.

Matthew Okazaki

Matthew Akira Okazaki is an architect, artist, and educator based out of Boston, Massachusetts. His work investigates spaces of the in-between: territories of ambiguous authorship, cultural thresholds, and sites of convergent histories. Alongside his art practice, Okazaki runs the architecture and design firm Field Office LLC, and is a partner at Architecture for Public Benefit, an architecture office serving mission-driven organizations in the local Boston area. Okazaki holds a Master of Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design with commendation and a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics from UCLA. He currently teaches architecture and design studios at Northeastern and Tufts University, and has held previous teaching positions at Brandeis University and Harvard University’s Design Discovery. Learn more about his work for the show here.

Melissa Teng

Melissa Q. Teng is a social practice and multimedia artist whose works examine systems of control and the freedoms within, often as acts of collective imagination and care. Her work is frequently in collaboration with community and responds to issues of hypervisibility and invisibility. Her interdisciplinary practice is rooted in storytelling, ranging from interactive media to public art. Currently, she is a graduate student in the Data + Feminism Lab in the Dept. of Urban Studies + Planning at MIT. She is part of the inaugural Collective Futures Fund cohort through The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Tufts University Art Galleries. Her research about design, technology, and community engagement has been published in New Media & Society, the proceedings of Human Factors in Computing Systems (ACM SIGCHI), and the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction. She has professional experience working as a UX & data visualization designer, and her teams’ work has been recognized by the Webby’s, Kantar’s Information Is Beautiful, Awwwards, FastCompany’s World Changing Ideas, the New York Times, and others. Learn more about her work for the show here.

Lily Xie

Lily Xie is a Chinese-American artist and educator whose socially engaged work explores radical imagination, reimagined histories, and other routes to collective resilience. Lily shares strategies adapted from her drawing and bookmaking practices as tools for community empowerment and justice. Most recently, she was a member of the inaugural cohort of Radical Imagination for Racial Justice, a program from Massachusetts College of Art and Design and the City of Boston. Lily is part of New England Foundation for the Arts’ Public Art for Social Justice 2021 cohort, and has been awarded grants from The Boston Foundation, the Mayor's Office of Arts & Culture, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Transmedia Storytelling Initiative. Lily’s work has been displayed at the Boston Center for the Arts, Unbound Visual Arts, and Pink Noise Studios. Learn more about her work for the show here.

About the Curator:

Leslie Anne Condon

Leslie Anne Condon is a Boston-area multidisciplinary artist and independent curator, interested in Critical Race Art History and issues of representation within the arts. She graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a degree in English and a minor in the Fine Arts. She briefly attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts as a Diploma student and earned her Post Baccalaureate in Fine Art 3D from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2011.

About the Partner:

Unbound Visual Arts

Unbound Visual Arts (UVA) is a unique Allston-Brighton-based non-profit art organization. We serve the Greater Boston community with impactful educational programs and exhibits to encourage learning, engagement, and change.

Contact: Leslie Condon, 617-863-9080 x 2017

A collaborative series by Jhona Xaviera, Mel Taing, Micah Rose, Julissa Emile, payal kumar, Chanel Matsunami Govreau, and Jae Quisol

Free Workshop for BIPOC | Saturday, September 25, 11:00 am - 12:30 pm

RSVP here, walk-ins welcome—capacity permitting

Free Performance Series, Open to All

Saturday, September 25th, 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Photo credit for main image ( pictured from left, Micah Rose, Chanel Matsunami Govreau, Jhona Xaviera. All photos by Mel Taing © 2021)

They Watch You Thrive is an installation and collaborative series that summons the auras of our queer ancestors through folklore, ritual and communal care. Here, we seed the grounds for queer, gender-transcendent artists of color to cultivate what it means to thrive. 

In their floating soft sculptural installation, They Watch You Thrive (2020), Matsunami Govreau conjures the imagery of Japanese folklore monsters known as yokai to give life and form to the lost and hidden spirits of their queer ancestry. Throughout our series, the installation will serve as a gathering space and portal towards a communal and multicultural exploration of thrive. Bright, hopeful eyes watch our now and future while reminding us of our shared and unique pasts. Teeth and hair fiercely guard as we play in folkloric fantasy. 

As collective tenders of this space we channel the many spirits of our abundant diasporas to this installation. We summon, el Coquí y las Ciguapas, Galang Kaluluwa at tigmamanukan, Neang Neak, churails and rakshasas, Futakuchi Onna and Hyakume … We name and call on our lineages known and unknown: Bayoguin and Obeah women. We conjure all who cisheteropatriarchy deems ‘monstrous’ to embrace our multiplicitous and infinite selves. 

During this exploratory and experimental series, we will gather here both publicly and privately to photograph, sing, dance, brew tea, hold workshops, and build altars for and with our chosen kin. We alchemize ashes of violence into nests for new worlds, where we feed each other as our birthright. 

This series is made possible by a Live Arts Boston grant from the Boston Foundation; and support from Arts Connect International, the Pao Arts Center and the Theater Offensive.

Pao Arts Center brings Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya’s We Are More, a public art campaign that celebrates the resilience and diversity of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, to Greater Boston. The campaign debuted in NYC, and gives the AAPI community a powerful voice, responding to the stereotyping, harassment, and violence that has become increasingly severe amidst COVID-19. Now, in collaboration with the MBTA, City of Boston, Orange Barrel Media, and WGBH, you can experience this work on over 80 digital billboards in the area.

About the Artist

Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and activist. From large-scale murals, augmented reality (AR) experiences, 3D printed sculptures, and interactive installations, Amanda makes the invisible, visible. She has explored microscopic universes, familial memories, and the power of collective action, challenging viewers to rethink the world around them and revealing the often-unseen depth, resilience, and beauty of communities of color. 

Contact: Cynthia Woo

Upcoming Public Programs:

Teach Me Your Song/Meet the Artist | Thursday, July 15 and July 2 | 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Closing Celebration | Saturday, July 31 | 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Past Events:

Wen-hao Tien: Home on Our Backs Virtual Opening

Laundry Rock: Histories of Laundries of Boston Chinatown

Wen-hao Tien: Home On Our Backs interviews in Chinese:

藝術家田文浩第一期訪談： 田文浩《揹在我們背上的家》展覽專訪

藝術家田文浩專訪第二期：作品《揹在我們背上的家》創作靈感

藝術家田文浩專訪第三期：作品《別有洞天》創作背後的故事

Experience Wen-hao Tien: Home On Our Backs with our 3D virtual tour：

About the Artist

In 2020 - 2021, Pao Arts Center invited community members to celebrate and strengthen the API community of Chinatown and Greater Boston by sharing a love letter to Boston Chinatown. Individuals submitted poems, drawings, illustration and more, all inspired and dedicated to Boston Chinatown to help uplift our neighborhood.

We Invite you to experience this letters, in an interactive map, inspired by community stories and neighborhood history.

Map written and developed by: Ashley Jin

Inspired by Wing on Wo & Co’s Love Letters to Chinatown.

This project is made possible by a grant from Mass Humanities, a state-based affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, which provided funding through the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC).”

 Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this website do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Enjoy these Love Letters to Boston Chinatown both in English and translated into Chinese!