CUNY Thomas Tam Visiting Professor

Photography as Primary & Secondary Data

Date: Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Time: 3PM to 4PM

Place: 25 West 43rd Street, 18th Floor
between 5th & 6th Avenues, Manhattan

Free Admission
RSVP Required Via Phone or Email

This talk is part of a new graduate-level course, Critical Asian American Issues and Actionable Solutions, taught by AAARI’s first CUNY Thomas Tam Visiting Professor, Dr. Paul Ong from UCLA, at the CUNY Graduate Center. For this talk, Corky Lee will exhibit twenty-four of his photographs and discuss their cultural and historical significance to New York City’s Asian American community.

Sample of Corky Lee’s Work

Corky Lee, a self-taught photographer, has been documenting the vibrant and fast-emerging Asian and Pacific American community for over 30 years. Known as the “undisputed unofficial Asian American Photographer Laureate,” the ubiquitous Corky has covered the day to day lives of Asian Pacific Americans as well as historical moments in American history.

For over 30 years, Corky has used his camera to ensure that the faces of Asian Pacific Americans and their experiences be included in American history. His mission has been to document the incredibly diverse Asian American communities ignored by mainstream media. In an interview in AsianWeek Corky commented, “I’d like to think that every time I take my camera out of my bag, it’s like drawing a sword to combat indifference, injustice and discrimination, trying to get rid of stereotypes.”

Born and raised Queens, N.Y., Corky is a second-generation Chinese American and the eldest child of a “paper son” laundryman and a seamstress. He is a graduate of Queens College/CUNY.

Corky was the 2002 Artist-In-Residence at New York University’s Asian/Pacific/American Studies Program & Institute, and has previously presented at AAARI on May 9, 2003.