Exhibition

DRAWN TOGETHER: Stories of Resilience and Renewal in NYC Chinatown

September 10 – December 28, 2022
12AM

A4 is excited to present this art exhibition in partnership with the Mott Street Girls and Pearl River Mart. From graphic designer and illustrator Sammy Yuen, DRAWN TOGETHER is an array of exquisitely detailed line drawings depicting historic New York City Chinatown businesses, landmarks, and community organizations.

These neighborhood fixtures, from the oldest (Transfiguration Church, first established in 1801) to the newest (Yu & Me Books, opened in 2021), run parallel to the history of Manhattan’s Chinatown — from its establishment in the 1870s as Chinese immigrants, facing discrimination elsewhere, clustered on a handful of streets, to rising in a world redefined by a pandemic and renewed economic hardship, xenophobia, racism, and violence.

To Sammy, the name “Drawn Together” has great significance. “Although these are my pieces, I couldn’t have done the show without the Mott Street Girls, Asian American Arts Alliance, and Pearl River Mart,” he says. “It’s really about all of us working together to heal and make a brighter future.”

A portion of the proceeds from this exhibition goes back to these Chinatown businesses and to the Chinatown Mural Project, a not-for-profit dedicated to bringing culturally appropriate large-scale murals to the NYC Chinatown area and beyond.