“Mapping Indigenous, Black and Asian Resistance in NYC” part of FiveMyles' "Maps" Exhibition

“MAPS” DECEMBER 4 – JANUARY 2, 2022 AT FIVEMYLES (558 St. John’s Place in Brooklyn)

BETTY YU - SARI CAREL

CURATED BY KLAUDIA OFWONA DRABER AS PART OF AN ARTIST RESIDENCY ON GOVERNORS ISLAND AT KODA

CLICK HERE for info

“Mapping Indigenous, Black and Asian Resistance in NYC” (by Betty Yu)

Photos by Betty Yu and Argenis Apolinario

Description:

“Mapping Indigenous, Black and Asian Resistance in NYC” is a work-in-progress multimedia installation that honors the under told stories of decolonization, liberation, and uprisings against white supremacy led by people of color on Lenape land (currently known as New York City) spanning the last 400 years. The installation currently features three organza banners, a 75-minute video and a selection of research materials. 

I started work on this project during my residency with KODA on Governors Island this past Fall 2021. This project has provided a critical creative outlet for me as I reflect on this last year of racial justice uprisings in the wake of the police murdering of George Floyd and in the face of COVID related anti-Asian violence. As a long time activist and avid student of history, I know that the white supremacist power structure has always pitted us, people of color against one another. I also know that Black, Indigenous, Asian and Latinx communities have a lot more in common than differences. 

I wanted to provide a visual portal into those stories of resistance that are rooted right here in New York City. I specifically focus on the stories in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. As a lifelong New Yorker I knew little about these histories. 

I spent countless hours researching, looking through newspaper archives, books and records, desperately trying to find oral histories and direct accounts told through Indigenous, Black, and Asian voices, but found very little. When there was a slave rebellion or indigenous uprising it was almost always told through the colonizer, the oppressor’s lens. Rarely, could I find an account from an emphatic witness or someone directly involved. Sadly most of these uprisings ended in tragic death and execution. And of course, we know this is how the dominant narrative gets shaped and fed to us as the “official” history.

The stories I cite are not meant to be comprehensive or exhaustive, just a snapshot of what I’ve been working on.  The stories span nearly 400 years - from the first account of enslaved people of African descent stolen from their homeland and forced onto New York soil in 1626 then organizing rebellions in 1712 and 1741, to the stories behind today’s Astor Place was one of the larger Lenape gathering spaces known as “Kintecoying” a major inter-tribal crossroads to the founding of Chinese Equal Rights League, one of the first groups formed in 1892 to fight for the equal rights of Chinese-Americans at the time of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

My aim was to uplift these often undertold parallel and intertwined histories of resistance.

Closing with this quote from Chief Denise Stonefish Kihkay from the Eelünaapéewi Lahkéewiit Council Lenape Delegation Visit to New York in 2019 “Both the blacks and Chinese are natural allies in our work to bring greater attention to our place in our homelands.”

Installation pieces:

Banners (dimensions 24” x 48”) L to R:

• “Indigenous Resistance Matters”

• “Black Resistance Matters”

• “Chinese- American Resistance Matters”

Video:  Mapping Indigenous, Black and Asian Resistance in NYC (TRT: 1:14:33) - WATCH HERE
Table: Project Research Materials

"In/Visible Labor in Chinatown" part of "Souls of NYC Chinatown" Chinatown group exhibition

In October 2021, my multimedia installation, In/Visible Labor in Chinatown was part of Souls of NYC Chinatown, a group art exhibition of 15 local artists that highlight the people who dedicate their lives to serving the Chinatown community. It celebrated the everyday folks who strive for a better life despite extraordinary challenges. The artists joined together in the hopes that through unity, we as a community of residents, workers, small building owners and businesses, and Chinatown-is-our-second-home enthusiasts will come out on the other side of the pandemic better and stronger.

Now you can experience the entire exhibition virtually

Outdoor Projection Screening of "We Were Here: Unmasking Yellow Peril" in Flushing, Queens on June 27th, 2021

The outdoor evening projection of my most recent participatory multimedia project "We Were Here: Unmasking Yellow Peril" was held in in Flushing, Queens on June 27th, 2021.

The 80 minute bi-lingual (Chinese/English) projection was a culmination of Asian American stories collected in Flushing over the last few months.

I’m so grateful to all the Asian American storytellers who participated and shared their personal stories about community safety, resilience, resistance in the face of white supremacy and increased anti-Asian violence. Asian immigrants as well as Asian Americans who are 2nd, 3rd, 4th and even 5th generation in this country shared their own stories about labor, immigration and discrimination.

Thank you to Asian American Arts Alliance (A4) for their collaboration and to Flushing Town Hall for hosting the storytelling event. Thanks to The Illuminator for doing the projection and for their tech support!

Check out BronxNet’s news segment about the Flushing outdoor evening projection event - CLICK HERE

More about the Project:

“We Were Here: Unmasking Yellow Peril'' is an ongoing multimedia participatory project inviting Asian Americans to participate in reclaiming, and reasserting our own narratives, through telling our families’ stories of immigration, labor, discrimination, and resilience. In the wake of the deaths of multiple Asian women massage workers in Georgia on March 16th 2021, the American public has suddenly turned their focus to the rise of anti-Asian violence. We all know this racialized and gendered violence didn’t just start with the pandemic.

Asian Americans were invited to submit their stories - written, images, video, and/or audio. Participants were encouraged to submit family photographs, images of ephemera, and other heirlooms along with their story.

The projection was a culmination of stories collected in Flushing, Queens between April and June 2021.

Garment Worker Window Display Collaboration with Joy Mao, W.O.W.'s Artist-in-Resident

This past summer (2021) I collaboration with Joy Mao, an artist and fashion designer on a window display collaboration for Wing on Wo’s storefront. Joy was the 2021 Wing on Wo Project (W.O.W.) artist-in-resident who made a beautiful Bai Jia Yi, a traditional Chinese patchwork garment from Chinese folk arts. It holds stories memories from garment workers.

Joy asked me to contribute a companion piece for the window display. I worked with my mom, Sau Kwan Yu, a former garment worker who worked for 35+ years in NYC's garment factories (mainly in NYC's Chinatown) on this display. We carefully curated a selection of ephemera - garments she sewed, patterns, fabrics, assortment of check stubs, sewing machine feet, zippers, buttons and a traditional radio that would broadcast one of the only Cantonese-language radio stations in NYC in the 1990s. Most factories would have this station playing.

This collaboration will be up on display until mid-August at 26 Mott St.in @wingonwoandco window display. They also just reopened their store. Wing on Wo is the oldest continuously open store in Chinatown - they have been at this current location for over 100 years. Chinatown small businesses have been hit hard by this pandemic so hopefully folks can come check out the display and store!

Betty Yu's "We Were Here: Unmasking Yellow Peril" Story Gathering Event at Flushing Town Hall on June 12th , 2021

On June 12th, Betty Yu hosted an outdoor story gathering event for “We Were Here: Unmasking Yellow Peril'' a participatory media project by Betty Yu , hosted by Flushing Town Hall in Flushing, Queens.

The event was sponsored and In collaboration with Asian American Arts Alliance (A4)

Photos by: Seungjae Seo and Betty Yu

“We Were Here: Unmasking Yellow Peril'' is a multimedia project inviting Asian-Americans to participate in reclaiming, and reasserting our own narratives, through telling our families’ stories of immigration, labor, discrimination, and resilience.

In the wake of the deaths of multiple Asian women massage workers in Georgia on March 16th 2021, the American public has suddenly turned their focus to the rise of anti-Asian violence. We all know this racialized and gendered violence didn’t just start with the pandemic.

Asian Americans were invited to come and have their stories recorded by video, photography or audio. Participants were encouraged to bring family archives, photographs, ephemera, and other heirlooms that they want recorded along with their story.

These recorded stories, images and art will be shared at a free outdoor projection screening on Sunday, June 27th in Flushing, Queens.

The family friendly event featured artmaking activities, free gift giveaways, and light snacks.

“Acts of Remembering” published in "Survivance" a collaboration between Guggenheim Museum and e-flux Architecture

Below is my visual essay, "Acts of Remembering" that was published in "Survivance" a collaboration between the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and e-flux Architecture in May 2021. The essay debuts some of my mixed media collages I’ve been working on during the 2020-2021 pandemic year.  Below are excerpts from the essay.

To read the full essay, CLICK HERE

To read more about my project click - “We Were Here: Unmasking Yellow Peril”