Corky Lee's Asian America
Fifty Years of Photographic Justice
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
A collection of over 200 breathtaking photos celebrating the history and cultural impact of the Asian American social justice movement, from a beloved photographer who sought to change the world, one photograph at a time
“For generations, Corky taught us how to see ourselves—as individuals and as a community.”—Hua Hsu, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Stay True
Known throughout his lifetime as the “undisputed, unofficial Asian American photographer laureate,” the late photojournalist Corky Lee documented Asian American and Pacific Islander communities for fifty years, breaking the stereotype of Asian Americans as docile, passive, and, above all, foreign to this country. Corky Lee’s Asian America is a stunning retrospective of his life’s work--a selection of the best photographs from his vast collection, from his start in New York’s Chinatown in the 1970s to his coverage of diverse Asian American communities across the country until his untimely passing in 2021.
Corky Lee's Asian America traces Lee’s decades-long quest for photographic justice, following Asian American social movements for recognition and rights alongside his artistic development as an activist social photographer. Iconic photographs feature protests against police brutality in New York in the 1970s, a Sikh man draped in an American flag after 9/11, and a reenactment of the completion of the transcontinental railroad of 1869 featuring descendants of Chinese railroad workers, and his last photos of community life and struggle during the coronavirus pandemic. Asian American writers, artists, activists, and friends of Lee reflect on his life and career and provide rich historical and cultural context to his photographs, including a foreword from writer Hua Hsu and contributions from artist Ai Weiwei, filmmaker Renée Tajima-Peña, writer Helen Zia, photographer Alan Chin, historian Gordon Chang, playwright David Henry Hwang, and more.
Featuring never-before-seen photographs alongside his best-known images, Corky Lee’s Asian America represents Lee’s mission to chronicle a history of inclusion, resistance, ethnic pride, and patriotism. This is a remarkable documentation of vital moments in Asian American history and a timely reminder that it’s also a history that we continue to make.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
For this dynamic collection, visual artist Ng (Have You Eaten Your Fill of Rice?) and Columbia University history professor Ngai (The Chinese Question) gather images from the half century that the late photographer Corky Lee (1947–2021) spent documenting Asian American communities, first in New York City and later across the country. An activist who once declared, "Every time I take my camera out of my bag, it is like drawing a sword to combat... injustice," Lee chronicled 1970s demonstrations against police brutality after the beating of Peter Yew, somber 1980s vigils to commemorate Japanese internment during WWII, and 1990s labor law protests, as well as more quotidian subjects—laundry stacked for pickup; his mother's living room. Post 9/11, Lee "seem to be everywhere, dauntless," capturing wreckage both physical and emotional, including an especially intense shot of a Central Park vigil in which a Sikh man draped in an American flag stares "silently forward, past Lee's camera and the viewer's gaze." The image reads as particularly gutting given the spate of "revenge attacks" against South Asians and Arabs at the time. Short essays from friends and fellow activists add useful historical context, but Lee's photographs pack plenty of punch on their own. This is a potent record of Asian Americans' continued struggle for equality.
