Stories shape how we see the world around us and how we see ourselves. As the culminating event for 2020’s Chinatown Arts Week, T!C is proud to present three new pieces that bring storytelling and art together in powerful ways. 

We’ve commissioned Xinmei Liu & Jacqueline Tam to created animated illustrations to accompany two family’s stories edited from oral histories recorded at the StoryCorps Listening Booth early this year. These stories bring us into the everyday lives of people who have long called Chinatown home and challenge us to reimagine how we collectively remember and honor the stories of our communities. 

“Grand Rising'' is a fashion story about Domingo, one of the first Black landowners in New Netherland circa July 13th, 1643 who lived in the south eastern corner of current day Chinatown. This commission is a duet between Kamau Ware, founder of BGX, and Charles Johnson, a model/stylist & visual artist who plays Domingo in the BGX Universe.

All of these projects further our discussion on how we can bring our communities into the fold as integral, active participants in the telling of their own stories? And how we can engage the larger community in this collective remembering?

This program will be held on Zoom. Please register for this event to receive the link. We’ll send out the link an hour prior to the event. Slots are limited, so please register ahead of time.