Corky Lee’s Photographs Helped Generations of Asian-Americans See Themselves
His simple passion to document took him everywhere.
Photographer: Corky Lee
Publisher: The New Yorker
Format: Digital
Date: 2021/01/30
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Lee’s photography, which he viewed as an extension of his activism, helped Asian-Americans recognize their shared yearnings and struggles. Photograph by Corky LeeLee took some of the only photos that survive of Chinatown back when it was a nexus of activism: protests against the Vietnam War, or police brutality, or miserly bosses and cruel landlords. Photograph by Corky LeeLee referred to moments such as when, in 2014, he and a group of Asian-Americans from around the country, including direct descendants of the Chinese railroad workers, reënacted the Promontory Summit photo, as “photographic justice.” Photograph by Scott Sommerdorf / The Salt Lake Tribune / APParticipants of the 1991 protest in support of the TV anchor Kaity Tong. Photograph by Corky LeeLee holds a postcard of Chinatown against the background of the neighborhood. Photograph by Corky Lee