Documentation from "Asian American Art Collectives with Margo Machida, Bing Lee, and Ryan Lee Wong"

For decades, Manhattan’s Chinatown has been a home for socially engaged art movements and collectives. In this critical moment of arts organizing, both against injustices in the art world and towards larger political questions like gentrification and immigration, this historical archive is vital. This program documented a series of presentations and a group discussion on the history of Asian American art collectives in New York, from the seventies to the present. Margo Machida, Professor Emeritus of Art History and Asian American Studies at the University of Connecticut and a founding member of Godzilla: Asian American Arts Network, outlines the rise of an Asian American arts movement and the turn toward transnationalism. Artist Bing Lee, a founding member of Godzilla and EPOXY Art Group, discusses his involvement in EPOXY and Tomato Grey. Writer and cultural organizer Ryan Lee Wong, who has been conducting research on these histories, introduces the program and presents an overview of Asian American arts collectives from Godzilla to the present.

Note: This photo was taken on a mobile phone in 2017.