What We Will Not Leave Behind

Project Description

"What We will Not Leave Behind" is an ongoing research creation project using hand-drawn and cutouts animation to document personal history of members of the Chinese diaspora in Nova Scotia. This suite of animation videos was based on conversations with four Chinese Nova Scotians during a community based research I undertook in 2021, with supported from Wonder’neath Art Society through funding from the Canada Council for the Arts. Participants' experiences referenced four pivotal moments of Chinese immigration history in so-called Canada: CPR railway workers (1890s), the exodus from Shanghai (1940s), the handover of Hong Kong (1990s) and the boom in international students (2000s). In 2022, I have continued to seek out opportunities to have conversations with Chinese-identifying community members, with a focus on folks who are on temporary immigration status.