Where is Denver's Chinatown? Stories Remembered, Reclaimed, Reimagined
History Colorado Center, Denver, CO
Ballantine Gallery
Oct 2024 - Aug 2025​
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As Senior Exhibit Developer, I helped shape Where is Denver’s Chinatown?, an exhibition that recovers the history of Denver’s once-vibrant Chinese American community in Lower Downtown and confronts the legacies of exclusion and erasure following the 1880 anti-Chinese riot. Working in partnership with UC Denver’s College of Architecture and Planning and community collaborators, the exhibit team integrated historic photographs, domestic artifacts, oral histories, and a recreated domestic interior with visionary architectural models to tell stories of resilience and belonging. My approach emphasized connecting material culture to lived experience—honoring the contributions of Chinatown’s residents while also inviting visitors to reimagine a more inclusive and equitable future for the city.
 Visual identity |  |  Chin Lin Sou was one of the first Chinese immigrants to Colorado when he arrived in the 1870s |
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 Our friends and collaborators CU Denver College of Architecture and Planning students and Assistant Professor Leyuan Li (third from left) |  Famille Rose hand painted porcelain spoons, dating between 1900-1940 |  Visions of what Chinatown could look like in the future |
 Embroidered silk slippers, ca. 1910-1925 |  A recreation of Ahmoy Lung's Denver home, an early Chinese immigrant and successful businesswoman. The Lung family has been involved in the preservation of Denver's Chinatown. |  Opening day celebration, with our friends from Colorado Asian Pacific United |
 Tobacco store in Denver's Chinatown, ca. 1880-1900 |  Early Chinoiserie cup |  |
 Transferware tea cup, ca. 1880-1900 |  Mock-up of the future of Chinatown, 15th Street, downtown Denver |