Art Run for Chinatown Supports W.O.W. Project
Photo by Marques Jackson in Chinatown of the W.O.W. Project mural by artist Jess X. Snow.
By Marnie Kunz
The Runstreet Art Run for Chinatown that we are doing with Run for Chinatown raised $700 for the W.O.W. Project, a local mural and arts initiative. Learn more about the transformative art that the W.O.W. Project is doing in Chinatown, NYC, and how our Art Run for Chinatown will help light up their latest mural project. Here is an interview with the W.O.W. Project:
How did the W.O.W. Project start?
Mei Lum founded the W.O.W. Project inside her family’s porcelain store, Wing On Wo & Co., to respond to the rapid changes in the neighborhood. Since its inception in 2016, the W.O.W. Project team has created a space for intergenerational dialogue and direct action through key programs like our annual storefront artist residency program, public discussions, and youth mentorship programs.
What is the goal of the W.O.W. Project?
The W.O.W. Project is a women, non-binary, queer, trans-led, community-based initiative that works to sustain ownership over Chinatown's future by growing, protecting and preserving Chinatown's creative culture through arts, culture and activism. Our core mission is to create space for conversations to happen across language barriers and generational gaps. The W.O.W. Project envisions the future of Chinatown that centers young women and nonbinary youth in building intergenerational bridges of understanding.
How many murals have been done as part of the project?
The W.O.W. Project has stewarded two murals in collaboration with different artists.
Long-time W.O.W. Team member and independent artist, Clara J Lu designed the mural on the front gate of the Wing On Wo & Co. store and painted it with the help of other community volunteers and artists in the Winter of 2020. The focus of this mural was to celebrate the foundations of Chinatown – Chinatown’s early risers and late roamers: elders, families, shop workers and family businesses, restaurant staff, early morning errand runners, etc. It incorporates a poem written and submitted to W.O.W.’s Love Letters to Chinatown Project and stands as a collective love letter to a community that needs all of our love and support right now.
The second mural is located on Mosco St. and was created in collaboration with artist Jess X. Snow. The mural, titled In The Future our Asian Community is Safe is accompanied by a website that imagines how we transcend white supremacy and anti-Asian violence. The mural depicts a youth holding a red envelope casting a spotlight on local elders in monumental embrace and as indigenous plants of Lenapehoking (NYC) grow from the concrete and soar into the sky above them. The mural was envisioned and painted with youth, adults and elders in The W.O.W. Project community in Chinatown during the Spring of 2021. Starting this fall, visitors to the mural will be able to use Augmented Reality to see the mural animate to life and immerse themselves in a virtual healing space of ambient music and letters depicting wishes for the future written by community members. Visitors globally are invited to share an offering that manifests safety, mutual care, and communal protection for the future of our Asian community.
For the mural we are raising funds for (for the LED lights), can you give us a little background information on the artist and what the mural represents?
Jess X. Snow (b. 1992) is a non-binary film director, artist, pushcart-nominated poet, children’s book author and community arts educator who creates speculative, queer Asian immigrant stories that transcend borders, binaries and time. From Calgary, Canada, by the way of Jiangxi, China, they currently live on the unceded lands of the Lenni Lenape / Brooklyn, NY. Through narrative film, large-scale murals, virtual and augmented reality, and community art education, they are working toward a future where migrant and BIPOC folks may witness themselves heroic on the big screen and city walls & discover in their own bodies; a sanctuary for healing and collective liberation.
The mural represents and envisions a future in which community safety is upheld through collective care and rejects policing and state intervention as the path to liberation. There are many who call for increased surveillance, policing, and hate crime legislation as solutions to surge in violence that’s been directed at Asian communities and this mural stands in opposition to those moves in recognition of the fact that the above strategies are ultimately tools of control and oppression. This mural centers solidarity and coalition between communities and the building of networks of care as the strategies for safety that ensure peace. This work also recognizes the importance of acknowledging Asian participation in the ongoing settler colonialism at the expense of indigenous peoples whose lands continue to be occupied. This collaborative mural is a symbol of care and hope, a portal and touch point to access imagined futures and ancestors, past and present, who play a role in realizing these futures we seek.
The Love Letters to Chinatown project sounds so cool! Can people still submit letters? Is there an area we can see a lot of the letters?
We are no longer accepting submissions but we have released a zine of the love letters including some background on the project and inspiring prompt, designed by Clara J Lu (@clayruh on IG). Additionally, during the Celebrating Our Growth Block Party (Sat 7/17 from 3-5 pm) we will be reading and hanging the letters featured in Clara’s zine to the fences near the soccer fields in Columbus Park in Chinatown. The letters will be able to be viewed there, and we would be honored to meet and celebrate with any runners who feel like stopping by during the party!
Where is the best place for people to follow along with the W.O.W. Project updates and happenings?
People can stay in the loop by subscribing to our email newsletter (sign up by scrolling to the bottom of our about page here) and following us on Instagram @wowprojectnyc.
Related Posts: Building Community Through Street Art: Peach Tao, Street Art Profiles: Bianca Romero, NYC Run: Light Up Chinatown
Marnie Kunz is a NASM-certified personal trainer, USATF and RRCA-certified running coach, and the creator of Runstreet Art Runs, which bring together communities through running and street art. She is a Brooklyn resident, trainer, Akita mom, and writer. She enjoys running coaching, traveling, art, and eating messily. You can follow her running and events at @Runstreet Instagram and Runstreet Facebook and follow her on Twitter for more on her running adventures.
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