A cartoon of a human on a turtle.

An Abolitionist Future for Chinatown

We imagine a world where violence and harm are not met with policing and surveillance, but with community, accountability, and care. Our public programs and interventions use art as activism to respond to the pressing needs of our Chinatown community.

A cartoon of a human wearing a wish costume with wings and outstretched arms.

past abolition in chinatown programs

  • A diverse group of ten people, including women and men of different ages, standing and sitting in front of a colorful, artistic mural painting on a brick wall. Some are smiling and posing for the camera, with painting supplies and a ladder visible nearby, indicating they are working on creating the mural.

    In the Future Mural

    Permanent display on Mosco Street

    A mural imagining a future where we transcend white supremacy and anti-Asian violence. Made in collaboration with artist Jess X. Snow.

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  • Borough Based Liberation Project

    September 2024

    A series of neighborhood cultural events and interventions to collectively vision abolition, climate justice, migrant justice, and housing futures in New York City.

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  • Poster for W.O.W. Project Fall Public Program Series titled "Cartographies of the Present: Charting Our Freedom Dreams." Features event details for discussions on the jail, police, Chinatown, dystopia, and art as worldmaking. Includes a photo of people protesting, holding signs that say "Close Ubers Now" and "No New Jails," with some signs in Chinese characters.

    Cartographies of the Present

    October and November 2023

    A public programs series aimed at unsettling the relationships between arts/culture, social movements, and carceral expansion.

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  • Group of four women sitting at a table, wearing masks, engaging in arts and crafts involving painted ceramic objects and brushes.

    Springs from Below

    May and June 2024

    A public program series of intergenerational art-making workshops that culminated in the People’s Abolition Parade.

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  • A large vertical billboard on a building at night displays a message about the history of the Megajail, mentioning imperialism, genocide, slavery, and rot in red and blue text. Smaller signs below indicate parking information.

    The People's Projection: Community, Not Cages

    January 2024

    An event held in partnership with The Illuminator & Chinatown Art Brigade, telling the story of the land the Manhattan Detention Complex sits on, mapping lineages of solidarity of the past and present. We called on artists, cultural workers, and architects to boycott all requests for artwork and design of the new Borough-Based Jail plan.

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Horse Puppet People's Parade
Mar 1
Horse Puppet People's Parade