W.O.W. Project
The W.O.W. Project sustains ownership over Manhattan Chinatown’s future by growing, protecting, and preserving Chinatown’s creative culture through arts, culture, and activism.
As a community-based initiative, W.O.W. envisions the future of Chinatown as one that centers women, non-binary, queer, and trans people as leaders in building intergenerational bridges of understanding across Asian American communities and beyond.
Seeding Our Rituals, 2021
Members of the WOW Project march down Mott Street holding a banner that says, “In the Future, Our Asian Femme Queer and Trans Communities is Safe”
Lunar New Year Celebration, 2022
A lion dancer performs in Chinatown, NYC to celebrate the Year of the Tiger
Free Portraits in Columbus Park with Singha Hon, 2019
Artist-in-Residence, Singha Hon, draws free portraits for the Asian community in Chinatown.
(top) Built to Fly: Resist, Recycle, Regenerate Fellows Showcase, 2022
Flying kites in Columbus Park with the graduating fellows. The kite was a collective art piece made from recycled materials.
(right) Seeding Our Rituals, 2021
A community healer leads a collective breath exercise at Columbus Park.
(left) Lunar New Year Celebration, 2022
Mei Lum, founder of the W.O.W project and 4th-generation store owner of Wing on Wo and Co., the oldest storefront in NYC Chinatown, gives offerings to the lions who dance in front of Wing on Wo and Co to bless them with good fortune.
(right)
1. Lunar New Year Calendar Distribution, 2022
W.O.W. Project distributes Lunar New Year calendars to local business as part of an incentive to support local businesses. The calendar is filled with art work from Asian-American artists and the first 25 patrons to spend $25 or more at any of the 12 participating businesses receives a free calendar.
2. “In the Future Our Asian Community is Safe” Mural Unveiling, 2021
Muralist Jess X. Snow and Poet huiying dandelion embrace in front of the new mural on Mosco Street in NYC Chinatown.
3. Bao Ba Zhou final showcase by Artist-in-Residence, Joy Mao, 2022
Artist Mischelle Moy and her mom dance down the runway to showoff their garments made by Joy Mao.
(left) Alice Ip, 2022
Portrait of Alice Ip. Alice Ip is a labor organizer in the Chinatown garment industry in the 80s. She stands in front of a Bai Jia Yi garment made by Joy Mao. The garment is made entirely of donated fabrics remnants from community’s past and present garment workers.
(right) The new WOW generation, 2022
Portrait of Ava, the youngest and first of the 5th generation of the Wing on Wo and Co. family.
(left) Changing Faces: workshop led by Singha Hon, 2019
Participants gaze at their reflections in a portrait-workshop led by Artist-in-residence, Singha Hon.
(right)
1. Mee Mee Chin, 2019
Chinese Opera singer, Mee Mee Chin, leads a demonstration during a free Tao Te Mask making workshop led by Artist-in-residence, Singha Hon.
2. Reimagining Queer Futures, 2019
Participants show off the bound-books they made. The book-binding workshop was led by Artist-in-residence, Vincent Chong aka Crystal Monkey Calligraphy.
(top) Chinatown’s first bilingual land acknowledgement, 2021
Chinese restaurant workers stand underneath the first translated land acknowledgement stating that NYC Chinatown is on Lenape People’s Land in Lenapehoking. The mural was painted by Jess X. Snow with help from the community.
(bottom) Seeding Our Rituals, 2021
The Chinatown community marched through Chinatown to call for community safety while protesting the new jail being built in Chinatown.