Our project tellS the story of Vancouver’s early Chinatown as chronicled through the lens of its first Chinese photographer: Yucho Chow. His work is a visual record of the many souls who passed through this historic neighbourhood: a place that welcomed and served everyone, no matter their skin colour or religion or ethnic background.
It took over eight years to gather just 200 of his photos. They were found one photo at a time – one family at a time. Most of the images had been hidden away for decades in family albums and boxes. Some were located in the files of private collectors. And a number of photos were discovered in institutional archives, although many of the images were not identified as having been created by Yucho Chow. His studio seal had long vanished from the photo. A few were found on EBay.
Most of the images had a story. The people who looked back at us had interesting lives and something to say.
Sadly, some of the photos had gone “silent.” They had lost their story and the names of the people in the image.
The first-ever solo retrospective exhibition of Yucho Chow’s work was shown May 4 – 30, 2019. The venue was Chinese Cultural Centre in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown. We displayed 80 Yucho Chow photos showcasing many different communities and taken over almost five decades.
As a result of the show, about 300 new Yucho Chow photos were located and shared with our project. Many of these new images found their way into our limited-book, which was released February 2020.
Our finaly legacy will be to assemble all these submitted images, and create the Yucho Chow Digital Community Archive which eventually will be housed at a public institution.
BOOK PROJECT TEAM:
Author/Lead designer:
Catherine Clement
Translation:
Winnie L. Cheung
Writing & Design Assistance:
Leilan Wong
Editors:
John Atkin
Sarah Ling
Fay Roth
Publisher:
Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia
EXHIBITION PROJECT TEAM:
Curator/Lead designer:
Catherine Clement
June Chow
Peter Judd
Susan Ma
Fay Roth
Leilan Wong
Special thanks to: Winnie Cheung; Jeffery Chong; Graham Judd; BJ Kim; John Ko; Mabel Kwan; Ming Lam; Brandon Leung; Judith Collins Maxie; Terri Mew; Kimberly Sayson; Patrick Tam; Baldwin Wong; Elwin Xie; David Yao; Dr Henry Yu; Yucho Chow’s many grandchildren; and all the families and collectors who shared their precious photographs with us.
This project would not be possible without the support and/or enthusiasm of the following:
