Drawn Together

In the fall of 2021, I donated a drawing of Yu and Me Books to Lucy Yu as she prepared to open a bookstore in Chinatown dedicated to amplifying A.A.P.I. and minority voices. Having worked in publishing, I understood how slim the profit margins in book sales are, so I wanted to support her mission. The drawing became incredibly popular, inspiring me to create artwork of other storefronts and landmarks in Manhattan’s Chinatown to help the community recover from the impacts of COVID-19 and anti-Asian hate.

I reached out to the Mott Street Girls with my idea, and they curated the show. They also secured our venue at the Pearl River Mart for the exhibition, Drawn Together: Stories of Resilience and Renewal. Over the next nine months, I volunteered my time to create 26 drawings for the show. With the support of a micro-grant from the Asian American Arts Alliance, we were able to produce the pieces. We sold the original prints and postcards from the exhibition, donating the profits—$2,360—back to the community.

What began as a single drawing of a building grew into a drawing of a neighborhood, then of an iconic highway, and eventually expanded to include Chinatowns across the nation. To me, Chinatowns represent the start of the American Dream for many immigrants. In the future, I hope to research the effects of war on immigration to foster empathy for anyone who has had to flee their homeland.