Join me for the launch of my art and photography book, Family Amnesia: Chinese American Resilience

Join me for the launch of my art and photography book, Family Amnesia: Chinese American Resilience on Thursday, July 24th from 6:30-8pm at the Magnum Foundation (59 E 4th St, #7W in Manhattan, NYC), co-hosted by Magnum Foundation and Daylight Books.

The evening will feature a conversation between me and artist Rochelle Kwan as we discuss our work of uncovering family roots and the importance of intergenerational memory work. The evening will end with a Q&A and book signing. Light refreshments will be provided. Please RSVP Here.

I have been working on this book project, Family Amnesia for four years. It has been a labor of love that has brought me deep joy, self-reflection and gratitude. It’s been an incredible journey getting to this point. Over the past four years, I’ve experienced life changing events - the birth of my son, the passing of my dad and now I’m 8 months pregnant. I’m thankful to my family, friends and Daylight Books (publisher) for their support throughout this journey.

Family Amnesia is a visual tribute and love letter honoring my Chinese American family roots in the U.S. The art book explores my family's multi-generational resilience and resistance through mixed media collages, my grandfather’s photographs, my own captured images and archival material.

The book project honors the past and current lives of Asian Americans and immigrants in the U.S. by examining the incalculable and traumatic impact that historical events like the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act continue to have on the Asian American experience. This is a painful part of our American history. I am reclaiming that narrative through my own personal family’s story. The book features my grandfather’s role as a founding member of the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance of NY, my mother’s plight as a garment worker who became a labor organizer, and my sister’s legacy as a community activist. I know my family story is not unique. It is part of the larger collective Asian-American immigration experience.


This book stands against the cultural, social and political erasure of not only four generations of my own family in the U.S. but pays homage to the hundreds of thousands of C hinese American families who share similar experiences. Bringing our stories to the foreground is an act of resistance. My book is also an act of love.

I started working on this book back in 2020 during an upsurge in attacks on Asian Americans, the spread of racial justice uprisings, and the rise of Movement for Black Lives. Now, in 2025 we find ourselves fighting for our basic human and civil rights under the right wing fascist Trump administration. There has never been a more critical moment for artists to connect to audiences through our work, to try to deepen our impact, and to help shift the nation’s consciousness by changing hearts and minds. 


I hope that readers will be able to relate to the experiences, sentiment and spirit of the book. Fighting for self-determination and dignity are universal values. While the book highlights struggles and hardships it also celebrates the joy of living and the joy in resistance.

My grandparents in NYC during Chinese Exclusion in the 1950’s, 2020-23, from the series was part of the Brooklyn Artists Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum (October 4th 2024 - January 26th, 2025)


This work is from my new art and photography book, Family Amnesia which will be released in Summer 2025. The work is a visual tribute and love letter honoring my Chinese American family roots in the U.S. The art book explores my family's multi-generational resilience and resistance through mixed media collages, my grandfather’s photographs, my own captured images and archival material.

My grandparents in NYC during Chinese Exclusion in the 1950’s, 2020-23, from the series was part of the Brooklyn Artists Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum (October 4th 2024 - January 26th, 2025)

"Working Stories" Part of "Invisible Hands" Exhibition at 601 Artspace (July 22 - Sept. 17th, 2023)

Please check out some of my work, on view now that is part of 601Artspace (at 88 Eldridge St. in Chinatown/LES) current group exhibition 𝙄𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙃𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨, on view through September 17, 2023. Gallery hours: Thursday-Sunday, 1-6pm.

The exhibition is curated by Emireth Herrera Valdés

Thank you to Johanna and Audrey for sharing your stories with me. These are selections from a project that was first a part of a public street sign installation project for @highlinenyc

About the my piece from their press release:

“Betty Yu's ‘Working Stories’ examines the effects of gentrification and displacement on low-income working-class people in the Chelsea neighborhood of NYC. Featuring an aluminum sign portraying a female domestic worker protesting with the Domestic Workers Alliance, along with portraits and audio interviews of two nannies Yu interviewed, the artwork showcases the activism of domestic workers seeking greater rights and better working conditions regardless of their legal status.” 

– Emireth Herrera Valdés

And thanks to Stephen Gambello of Tussle Magazine Projects for the thoughtful review:

“Betty Yu's "Working Stories" (2019) invites us to reflect on the plight of domestic workers in their own words. Flanking a steel plaque protesting the violation of domestic workers' rights, we find two portraits of nannies who were interviewed for this project. Recordings of these individuals express their impressions and frustrations regarding the injustices they endure, such as long hours and low pay. Listening to their perspectives takes us beyond our context and grants us a genuine understanding of how their existence is compromised. Their experiences become our own at that moment, immersing us in a tangible and genuine connection to their lives.”

*Photo of Betty Yu standing in front of her work and installation photo is by Go Sugimoto

"Family Amnesia" was presented at 2023 Photoville Opening Night

Family Amnesia was presented as an Artist Spotlight by Magnum Foundation at Photoville Opening Night,  June 3rd, 2023 

The video screened was shot and edited by Hai-Li Kong, additional camera by Cal Hsiao. Still shot from the video.

Artist Spotlight: Family Amnesia invites viewers to learn about her Chinese-American family roots in the U.S. through her engaging and interactive zine. The zine explores her family’s multi-generational resilience and resistance through family photos, collages and short personal films. This zine also features work that will be part of her forthcoming art and photography book, Family Amnesia to published by Daylight Books in May 2024.

Link to Family Amnesia

Link to Photoville opening night

“CAB: Degentrification Archives” exhibited at Pace University Art Gallery (Feb. 10th-March 25th 2023)

“CAB: Degentrification Archives” is an exhibit that uplifts the stories of people most directly impacted by the gentrification of Manhattan’s Chinatown, with the long-term goal of protecting and preserving our neighborhood. "Degentrification Archives" is a curated collection spanning our seven year history. The exhibition includes archival material, photographs, videos, placekeeping maps, large scale projections, as well as banners, posters and other direct action ephemera.

Chinatown Art Brigade (CAB) is an intergenerational collective driven by the fundamental belief that cultural, material, and aesthetic modes of production have the power to create change. CAB is comprised of Asian American and Asian diaspora identifying visual artists, media makers, writers, educators, archivists, and organizers with deep roots in Manhattan's Chinatown. Together we make work that centers art and culture as a way to support community-led campaigns around issues of gentrification and displacement.

The show also highlights our collaborations with local and national cultural groups, movements, and formations including CAAAV Chinatown Tenants Union, the W.O.W. Project, The Illuminator, Decolonize This Place/MTL+, Grassroots Asians Rising, Asian Americans United, Mi Casa Resiste, CID Coalition, Coast to Coast Chinatowns Against Displacement (C2C) and many others.

Betty Yu, co-founder of CAB is one of the main creators of our interactive mapping project on display. One of the main features of the exhibition is our mapping and multimedia installation that centers the stories of people most directly impacted by displacement, with the long ­term goal of protecting and preserving our beloved neighborhood. The project features short videos and testimonials from tenants, residents and housing activists telling their own stories. Interactive media platforms like Augmented Reality (AR), QR codes, and mapping are used to present these stories to help viewers unpack the lived experience of evictions and gentrification.

This exhibition also features a dedicated space for celebrating the racial justice, housing justice and community organizing history of CAAAV, our partner organization. The gallery room will feature a timeline documenting their nearly 40 year history of movement building through photographs, videos and other ephemera.

This exhibition expresses our deep respect for our beloved Chinatown and for the communities organizing in the frontlines against displacement across the globe. We hope this exhibition will not only inspire people to take creative action, but also help unleash our collective radical imagination to fight for a degentrified and liberated future.

Acknowledgements:

Thank you to the incredible staff and students at Pace University and Pace University Art Gallery who made this exhibit possible: Sarah Cunningham, William Pappenheimer, Mariana García Tinoco, Kelley A. Kreitz, Elizabeth Hernandez, Hannah Arias, Mai Callahan, Francisco Maldonado, Jim Skuldt, Anna Zhang, Truman Coltrin, Gillian Johnson, Greer Jones, Asling Morales, Aya Krimou, Elizabeth Burger, Adam Al-Hatlani, and Derek Stroup.

📷:Heena Malhotra, Betty Yu, John Antush

Chinatown Art Brigade: Degentrification Archives Exhibit Opening - Feb 10th 2023, 5-7pm

Join us this upcoming Friday, February 10th from 5-7pm at the Pace University Art Gallery (41 Park Row, 1st Floor) -  for the opening of our exhibition "Chinatown Art Brigade: Degentrification Archives." The exhibit will be on view from February 10 through March 25, 2023. We are inviting our friends and collaborators, many of whom are featured in the exhibit, to celebrate its opening.

WHAT: Chinatown Art Brigade: Degentrification Archives Exhibit Opening 

WHEN: THIS FRIDAY, February 10th from 5-7pm

WHERE: Pace University Art Gallery (41 Park Row, 1st Floor) Guests should enter via the Spruce Street entrance of 41 Park Row. 

More Info: the IG Invite and FB invite 

DJs Romil Chouhan and Tao Leigh Goffe (also known as the Sbarro Soundsystem) will be providing the beats.

*Please note that proof of COVID-19 vaccination is required. 

Details:

Pace University Art Gallery presents “Degentrification Archives,” an exhibit by the Chinatown Art Brigade (CAB) which uplifts the stories of people most directly impacted by the gentrification of Manhattan’s Chinatown, with the long-term goal of protecting and preserving our neighborhood. The "Degentrification Archives" is a curated collection spanning our seven year history. The exhibition includes archival material, photographs, videos, placekeeping maps, large scale projections, as well as banners, posters and other direct action ephemera. The show also highlights our collaborations with local and national cultural groups, movements, and formations including CAAAV Chinatown Tenants Union, the W.O.W. Project, The Illuminator, Decolonize This Place/MTL+, Grassroots Asians Rising, Asian Americans United, Mi Casa No Es Su Casa (also known as Mi Casa Resiste), CID Coalition, Coast to Coast Chinatowns Against Displacement (C2C) and many others. Additionally, the exhibition highlights the racial justice, housing rights, and community organizing history of CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, CAB’s partner organization. In the dedicated lab space, a timeline highlights CAAAV’s nearly 35-year history along with photographs, videos and related ephemera.