What was once rubble barricaded by fencing in Chinatown Centre has been transformed by Tea Base and Friends of Chinatown Toronto (FOCT) into a community garden. In unpruned tomato vines artists Christie Carrière,Hannia Cheng, and Florence Yee share stories from the Chinatown Anti-Displacement Garden and trace the role of collective action and communal imagining in challenging forced displacement. Both Christie Carriere’s digital illustrations detailing the origin story of the garden and the premiere of Hannia Cheng’s short film tracing the garden’s growth will be available on VR Tea Base; an online community arts space created by Jason Li. Meanwhile, Florence Yee’s hand copied posters about the futility of rest can be found on physical street corners of Tkaronto and on the Mayworks Festival website.
Join artists and Tea Base organizers Christie Carrière, Hannia Cheng, Jason Li and Florence Yee for unpruned tomato vines: a conversation on. Friday May 28th, 6:30-8:00PM.
Tea Base is a curious community arts space tucked away in Tkaronto/Toronto’s Chinatown Centre Mall. With the aim of making accessible space for intergenerational activists and artists who support social justice movements in and around Chinatown, Tea Base develops solidarity across marginalized groups through relationships, joy, and collaboration. VR Tea Base is an experiment in digital co-presence in the age of COVID-19.
