Placemaking in Chinatowns Across Canada with Steph Wong Ken

Steph Wong Ken is a writer, activist, and community organizer. She shared with us reflections on working in and writing about Chinatowns across Canada and the complexities of relating one’s identity to a place, and placemaking as identity.

Articles mentioned:

Community is Never Neutral: Placemaking in Chinatowns Across Canada by Steph Wong Ken
C Magazine, 15 Aug 2021 feature

Editorial: Chinatown by Steph Wong Ken
C Magazine, 15 Dec 2022 editorial

Artists are responding to the ways that Chinatown can be a vessel for identity and belonging but it can also be a vessel for displacement and reclamation.

-Steph Wong Ken

This video series explores how cultural and artistic groups in Chinatowns serve as essential influences in the post-pandemic ecosystem, with arts, culture, and placemaking firmly set as the foundation of rebuilding.

Thank you to the Government of Canada and the Canada Council for the Arts for their support of this project.