October 18, 2018 – March 24, 2019
Interior Lives, on display at the Museum of Chinese America, features the work of Thomas Holton, Annie Ling, and An Rong Xu, three photographers who have documented the lives of Chinese New Yorkers. Together, these photographers provide a glimpse into the complex realities of immigrant life in New York City.
Thomas Holton has documented the lives of a single family, the Lams of Ludlow Street, since 2003. Beginning as a family of five in a 350-square-foot apartment, the family has changed over the past 15 years. The children have grown, and the parents have separated. For more than a year, Annie Ling has documented the lives of the 35 residents of the fourth floor of 81 Bowery. The “invisible immigrants” live in cramped quarters earning low wages, and sacrifice to support their families who have been left behind in China. Using his photography, An Rong Xu has explored the intersections of his Chinese-American identity that he considers to be “two sometimes polarizing cultures.”
