Chinatown Book Launch Party: Corky Lee's Asian America
4 – 6PM
Join us for the groundbreaking book launch of “Corky Lee’s Asian America.” In honor of 2024 AAPI Heritage Month, “Corky Lee’s Asian America" offers a profound reflection on Asian American history and activism. Featuring never-before-seen photographs alongside Corky’s most renowned images, the book encapsulates his lifelong commitment to documenting moments of inclusion, resistance, and ethnic pride.
The May 4th Chinatown Book Launch Party will feature a series of engaging programs, including a captivating lion dance performance by the Chinatown Community Young Lions. Join our esteemed panel discussion moderated by Asian American Arts Alliance executive director Lisa Gold and featuring Book Editor Mae Ngai, Photographer Alan Chin, and Pearl River Mart President Joanne Kwong. Following the discussion, indulge in the opportunity to purchase the book from Chinatown’s beloved bookstore, Yu and Me, and explore a captivating pop-up exhibition showcasing Corky’s iconic photos with refreshments.
We invite you to celebrate Corky’s enduring legacy and his profound impact on the AAPI social justice movement. To delve deeper into Corky Lee’s mission to chronicle a history of inclusion, resistance, ethnic pride, and patriotism, visit the Corky Lee Estate’s website: www.corkylee.org
Bio:
Corky Lee (1947-2021), a native of Queens, New York, was an activist-photographer who for fifty years documented Asian American communities and movements for social justice. His photographs were published in The New York Times, New York Daily News, and Asian American Weekly, among other outlets; were featured in forty books; and on display in the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute and the Oversea Chinese History Museum in Beijing. Two recent films, scheduled to air on PBS, chronicle Lee’s life and work: Jennifer Takaki’s “Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story” (2022) and Curtis Chin’s “Dear Corky” (2022).