Photo (above): Enbion Micah An

Here to Stay (NYC)

‘Here to Stay’ was a year-long project with CAAAV's Chinatown Tenants' Union (CTU) that included a series of large-scale outdoor mobile projections addressing themes of gentrification, displacement and community resilience in NYC's Chinatown. Artwork based on oral histories, placekeeping walks, and maps created during community-led workshops were incorporated into photo and video montages that were projected onto buildings and public landmarks in Chinatown and the Lower East Side. 

Projections for CAAAV’s Community Rezoning Town Hall Event
August 19, 2016

Photos: Enbion Micah An

Here To Stay - Community Projection Event
September 24, 2016

Messages and designs illuminated the neighborhood in an effort to raise awareness about a Chinatown Tenants Union-led building campaign, the community-led rezoning campaign, and a general call for residents to take action when faced with landlord harassment. Projections were held in two busy intersections throughout the neighborhood: outside Grand Street subway station, and along Delancey Street - a main throughway where luxury developments and trendy establishments have sprung up over the past decade; one of many gentrifying forces affecting Chinatown and its residents.

Photos: Enbion Micah An, Louis Chan, KahEan Chang

LIGHTS ON, SPEAK OUT, ACTION! An open call projection event
May 12, 2017

Chinatown Art Brigade stands united with all groups — within and beyond our communities — who are at risk and fighting for their civil and human rights. We expanded our ongoing Chinatown-based anti-displacement work to include projections that actively opposed the ban on refugees and immigration from Muslim countries. This projection event included submissions to an open call for entries — messages, images, digital art and videos — from progressive groups fighting this administration’s racist, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim agenda.

Photos by The Illuminator

VIDEOS

Here To Stay (2016-2017) community workshop & mobile projection series was made possible with the support of A Blade of Grass, Asian Women Giving Circle, Shelly & Donald Rubin Foundation, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Many thanks to the staff, volunteers, and tenants of Chinatown Tenants Union and CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities; and The Illuminator.