千絲萬縷 Tied Together by A Thousand Threads

This project was organized by youth in Boston’s Chinatown, and the mural was conceptualized by Chinatown resident Yvonne Ng. My role as the community artist was to translate Ng’s ideas into a painted mural. Chinatown youth, as well as community members, helped paint the mural.

So much of the project in 2017 was a true community process — all I did was supply technical art skills in mocking up and executing the mural. The story & concept are all Yvonne Ng, with support from Susan Chinsen, Tunney Lee, and others; the youth coordinated all the logistics, and ACDC staff like Debbie Chen and Jeena Chang did a large majority of the behind-the-scenes legwork. Even the English title was co-created with the A-Voyce youth leaders through a Saturday brainstorming session.

2023 Restoration

Read the behind the scenes about the mural restoration here.

Installation: Vivian Ho

Special thanks to volunteers: Josh Lam, Laura Le, Cara Lew, Ga Tsung Chan for helping on multiple days to remove graffiti, mix paints, clean the boards, and more.

And additional thanks to: Anh Thứ Pham, Anna, Ada, Chloe Chau, Christina “Teeny” Huang, Emma Ishida, Ivy Wong, Jazlynn, Jeena Chang, Jennie Chang, Jennifer Duan, Kaitlyn Wang, Lee-Daniel Tran, Lina Huang, Martin Gao, My Nguyen, Rebecca Leu, Tiffany Wei, Trisha Obsequio, Quyen, and Yen Nhi Chit, for cleaning, painting, and more!

Without them, this would have been a lonely and hard project.