When the lead artist of the new mural in Chinatown, Shani Shih, looks at her work, she doesn’t just see the neighborhood’s rich, layered, and multiethnic history — she sees a public act of defiance against the developers trying to push legacy Chinatown residents from their homes.
The mural, which is the first art installation in Chinatown since the 1970s, was coordinated by the Save Chinatown Solidarity Network, a group of organizers fighting displacement in the neighborhood. It’s situated on H Street near Gallery Place and overlooks an empty lot where developer Monument Reality plans to construct a series of luxury housing units, displacing two of a dwindling number of small businesses in the neighborhood. At a Nov. 24 community event unveiling the mural, Cassie He, an organizer with the Save Chinatown Solidarity Network, said the network chose to locate the mural on this wall as a “direct act of resistance.”
“Every time the developer comes into Chinatown, they have to look over the eyes of families, community members, and leaders that they are displacing and kicking out of this community,” she said.
A vivid golden swoosh ties together the various elements of the mural, which depicts a set of current community leaders, including members of the Museum Square and Wah Luck Tenants Associations, intermingled with scenes from Chinatown’s history. It also includes images of the lion dance tradition and a black and white photograph of the Lee Family Foundation, which has strong historical ties to the neighborhood and helped to fund the mural.
Most of the last Chinese residents in the neighborhood live in the affordable housing complex Wah Luck House and the partially-empty Museum Square building. The Save Chinatown Solidarity Network has been working with tenants of the Museum Square building who say they are being pushed out of their homes by their landlord, Bush Companies.
Many longtime Chinatown residents oppose the proposed development of the lot where the mural was painted, because of its potential to decimate their community by raising rents and pushing out the small businesses nearby. Still, the Board of Zoning Adjustment ultimately approved the proposal, and Monument Reality intends to break ground before the end of the year.
“They have to face the reality of the destruction that these developers are wrecking in our city, but most importantly, face the continuous strength of our community,” He said.
Shih, the lead artist who painted the mural, said her inclusion of a black-and-white photograph of the mural painted by Eastern Wind in the neighborhood 50 years earlier speaks to a long history of organizing in Chinatown. In addition to her work as an artist, Shih has been a tenant organizer in the city.
“The mechanisms of displacement, which are at full force, not just in Chinatown, but all around the city, targeting specifically Black and brown communities of color, immigrant communities, working-class communities,” Shih said at the unveiling event, as she looked up at the portraits of the Museum Square tenants who have been resisting displacement for nearly a decade.
Members of the Museum Square Tenants Association also spoke at the event — which, despite the frigid temperatures, featured food and hot tea from local restaurants — and reiterated the importance of their community and their steadfast commitment to staying in their homes.
Ultimately, the mural organizers hope it will serve as a reminder of the power of community and organizing — and as a call to action for others to help shape a Chinatown community that uplifts affordable housing, small businesses, and longtime residents.
“Public art is powerful because it represents a claim in a public space,” Shih said. “And that’s why I love this artwork.”
