Yo Soy / I Am Chinatown, Salinas harnesses the power of community through storytelling, lived experience, and historical reflection. This exhibition explores Salinas Chinatown as a home, cultural landmark, and a complex socio-cultural microcosm. Part of a two-year public art and exhibition initiative, the project is a collaboration with the Visual and Public Art Department at CSU Monterey Bay and made possible in part by a grant from The Creative Work Fund—a program of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, generously supported by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
At the heart of Yo Soy / I Am Chinatown, Salinas is a series of daguerreotype portraits that bring us face-to-face with the layered histories, personal narratives, and social concerns of this unique neighborhood. This new body of work includes a public art installation, community collaborations, and an exhibition that reclaims the 19th-century daguerreotype process as a contemporary tool for visibility, resistance, and cultural reflection. By working closely with residents, I explore how historical and ongoing issues—such as racial disparity, exclusionary policies, homelessness, and the criminalization of public space—continue to shape the lives and identities of marginalized communities.
This project began in 2017 when my colleague Angelica Muro, chair of the Visual and Public Art Department at CSUMB, encouraged me to consider creating work centered on Chinatown, Salinas. She introduced me to ACE (Asian Cultural Experience), where I connected with board members Jean Vengua and Larry Hirahara. They graciously gave me a tour of the neighborhood. I was immediately struck by the remnants of its architectural past: the Republic Café, the striking “chop suey” and “Mi Cantina” signage, the Suey Sing Building, and nearby religious and cultural centers serving the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. These historical landmarks—set against the stark reality of visible homelessness—revealed Chinatown as a site rich with contradictions, resilience, and stories waiting to be told.
My practice focuses on communities across diverse backgrounds. I’m continually drawn to the question: What brings people together? Salinas Chinatown became a compelling place to investigate this. From my home in San Jose and during breaks from teaching in Arizona, I returned often to photograph, connect, and reflect. In 2019, Angelica and I applied for the Creative Work Fund grant, which officially launched the project.
The work debuted in Fall 2022 at the new Visual and Public Art Gallery at CSUMB. A public art installation is also permanently installed at Moon Gate Plaza MidPen Housing on Soledad Street. The daguerreotypes, with their mirrored surfaces, invite viewers to see themselves reflected—alongside those who have historically been excluded or rendered invisible, such as unhoused individuals—underscoring the humanity we all share.
Photography, for me, is a way to mark time. I know the places I photograph will inevitably change. My hope is that these images will stand as an archive—a visual record that future generations can look back on to better understand who we were, how we lived, and what we valued.
Below are quotes that accompanied the daguerreotype portraits:
I was born and raised in Salinas Chinatown at 12-1/2 Soledad Street, where I lived with three generations of my family in the backrooms of my Grandfather Shorty Lee’s Hop Hing Lung Co. general merchandise store. I remember “every nook and cranny” there. I was born into a different kind of Chinatown–it was wild. -Wellington Lee
I learned that the longest-running Filipino newspaper in the U.S., the Philippines Mail (1930s-1980s), was published in Salinas Chinatown. -Jean Vengua
The iconic Buddhist Temple Bell (Bonsho) came for the 10th Anniversary in 1934 and is still used today.
-Larry Hirahara
We were told not to trespass in Chinatown. What we have left in the blocks of buildings in Salinas Chinatown seems like a treasure to be preserved.
-Kathleen Slattery
We all have a story too, we are judged for being homeless: either thought of as drug dealers or prostitutes.
-Diana Baylar (voice of the homeless)
No aye aqua.
Yo tengo mis derechos.
No uso drogas.
Soy sincera.
Yo soy guerra.
La gente se asen idiota, no los ayudan.
No soy mujer de las calle.
La gente pobre es inocente.
Mi gente es mi gente.
Yo defiendo a “Los homeless.”
No hay justicia.
-Maria de la Maria
Chinatown is rough.
I was happily married living on the east side.
It’s rough living in Chinatown.
It’s real cut throat: drugs, people get beat up, stabbed, drug dealers…
I don’t want to be a burden.
Homelessness is like a disease, it grabs you and won’t let go.
Life is too short, and a lot of people out here aren’t going to make it.
A lot of people never leave this block.
It’s cold out here– 3:00-5:00am is cold as shit.
How do you help the homeless without having been homeless?
Can’t stop won’t stop.
-Lawrence Chambers
I was born in Ford Ord–I’m a Fort order Army brat
I’ve lived in Germany, Korea, New York, and New Jersey.
My mother was an alcoholic.
My father was a service man.
Everyone is dead except for me.
Sometimes I want to check out, but that’s the power of Satan.
I’m not so confident, and my mind ain’t so strong anymore.
I don’t know who to turn to or where to go.
My quality of life isn’t good, and I’m just hanging on.
Sometimes I don’t want to wake up, but I get up anyway.
I used to be very charismatic, I went to college, I had a life. Now I have nothing but this chair.
It’s a struggle.
-Robert Stewart
I added green and purple splatter to this tapestry.
I am a designer, and I like textiles.
-Joey Capone the 5th
I’m 1st generation, born and raised in Watsonville, from Zacatecas, Mexico–I come from resourceful people.
I’m a retired warehouse man who drove a stand-up lift for 40 years
I’ve been in Chinatown for 9 years.
No source of income until now–I fix the neighborhood bikes.
-Arturo “Art” Espinoza Jr., The Bike Man, Art’s Customs
Soy Puro México.
Desde Oaxaca
Voy y vengo
Más bien solo, que mal acompañado.
-Gilberto Cruz (a.k.a El Reciclador)
I’m a part of the history.
Chinatown is a promised land, and I wouldn’t want to mess with it.
-Sandra Dixon
I was a Marine.
I worked at John Hopkins.
I went to medical school.
I am a medical doctor.
-Junior (a.k.a. Foster freeze, Kid Rocket, Kid Goddie)