"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.

6-12-21 FTH Yellow background trio_2 copy.jpg

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”

May 20-July 3rd: “The Garment Worker” and “In/Visible Labor in Chinatown” is included in SPACE Gallery’s exhibition

Betty Yu’s “The Garment Worker” and “In/Visible Labor in Chinatown” is included in SPACE Gallery’s exhibition Punctures: Textiles in Digital and Material Time, in Portland, Maine. The show is curated by Ekrem Serdar of Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center in Buffalo, NY. Drawing from the little-known but expansive history connecting media arts and textile production, the exhibition features artists invested in the material, critical, and liberatory politics of their intersections.

The show will be on display until July 3rd. Check it out if you’re in town.

Betty Yu, The Garment Worker (2014) and In/Visible Labor in Chinatown (2019), interactive screen, textiles, video, sound, documents, and other ephemera. (Photo by Carolyn Wachnicki)

Betty Yu, The Garment Worker (2014) and In/Visible Labor in Chinatown (2019), interactive screen, textiles, video, sound, documents, and other ephemera. (Photo by Carolyn Wachnicki)

CLICK HERE for more information about the exhibition.

Below are photos by Carolyn Wachnicki of my work on display,