HISTORY OF THE CHINATOWN ANTI-DISPLACEMENT GARDEN by Christie Jia Wen Carrière
a part of unpruned tomato vines presented with Tea Base
Saturday, May 1 – Monday, May 31
Tea Base and Friends of Chinatown Toronto (FOCT) have been maintaining the Chinatown Anti Displacement Garden since 2019. What was once a pile of dirt and rubble behind fences became a new garden and stage that welcomed the public to use it as a community gathering place. The building of the garden was part of a Coast 2 Coast Chinatown’s international week of action. The purpose was to draw attention to the displacement and lack of affordable housing for residents and small businesses in Chinatowns across North America; historically immigrant and working class neighbourhoods. We consider this act of taking care of space as one of the small pieces of resistance against local gentrification. The garden has also become a way for us to base build by getting to know all the various members of Chinatown and nourish community agency and power. Through a series of illustrations, Christie shares the story behind the garden, available through a link on VR Tea Base.
Enter VR Tea Base and explore the garden.
Join unpruned tomato vines: A conversation on Friday, May 28th at 6:30PM.
Christie Jia Wen Carrière
Christie Jia Wen Carrière (she/her), who also goes by Chris, is a painter, illustrator, rug-maker and artistically curious individual. Chris is intrigued by, and aims to explore the nuances of the in-between. In-between her own ethnic identities; in-between culture and familial nostalgia; community and alienation. Currently, she is working as a painting instructor, a free-lance illustrator, as well as the Co-Creative Director at Tea Base. In this role, Chris has collaborated with MOCA, Myseum, the AGO, The Gladstone Hotel, Mayworks, and others. She obtained her BFA in Drawing & Painting with an Art History minor from OCAD University. Since March 2020, Chris has been living and working out of the 4 walls of her bedroom, somewhere in Tkaronto/Toronto.