.jpg)
Labor Lies in Chinatown
Leslie Kang, Gabriella Belli, Siyuan Zhao, Joshua Frizell
Integrative Studio 1 (FL 2019)
Project Brief
Our group's objective was to represent the essence of a specific Manhattan region through a garment. We chose Chinatown and Little Italy for our project as we were interested in attaining a profound insight into their culturally vibrant and historically significant heritage.
Chinatown has a deep history dating back to the 19th century; our focus was to capture Chinatown's resilience and challenges as a working-class community.
*text*
The first wave of immigrants began resided in Manhattan as early as the 1870s, whom primarily made a living through restaurants and laundromats. With new immigration laws, many highly skilled immigrants were only able to work low-income jobs. , the only thing to show for all their hard work was the trash surrounding them.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
We decided to make a handmade apron to represent the longtime, working class Asian-American community resided in Chinatown, one of the few neighborhoods in Manhattan that are fighting to keep developers at bay. The garment is made out of scrap material found in the Lower East Side, including lottery tickets. cigarette packs, takeout bags, newspaper, and broken toys.