When Hogan’s Alley was destroyed by the City of Vancouver in the 1970s, life for Black communities in the city changed forever. Adjacent to Hogan’s Alley was Chinatown, a community experiencing its own rippling effects of a Chinese head tax and Immigration Act. Often forced to live within the boundaries of their own settlements, Hogan’s Alley and Chinatown residents survived racial hatred by exchanging goods and services within their own
and each other’s communities, and even organized together to protect their homes and their neighbourhoods in the 70’s.
Our Shared Tapestry, created and facilitated by Afro Latina artist Ruby Smith Díaz with the support of Yarrow Intergenerational society for Justice, brought together 17 youth and elders from Black and Chinese communities from East Vancouver to answer the question: what legacy of unity and resistance do we want to leave our future ancestors?
Through storytelling, drawing, and the use of personal photos and public archives, youth and elders created collages tell these forgotten and erased histories, and disrupt the archives.
These collages were then exposed to sunlight to create cyanotype prints, and then embroidered by hand to bring the pieces to life. These prints represent but a small portion of those stories.
Featured artists include: Parker Johnson, Dax Heaven, DANI YOUR DARLING, Brenda Lee, Katy Ho, Naomi Leung 梁珮恩, Iona Jiang, Kate C., Julia Wong, and MPCAS curator, Alger Ji-Liang
Curated by Alger Ji-Liang.