I'm just a tourist here

Lee, Cliff

I'm just a tourist here

Persistent URL

http://hdl.handle.net/10456/35715

Author(s)

Lee, Cliff

Date Issued

December 6, 2013

Abstract

My photographs followed tourists who visited Columbus Park in Chinatown, Manhattan over two days. The area of the park that I photographed is occupied every day largely by elderly Chinese people chatting, playing music, playing games, and practicing Tai Chi. In this body of work, I subjected the tourists at the park to a level of examination that they, perhaps unwittingly, subjected the local residents to. In conjunction with text elements, this somewhat hypocritical process as a photographer scrutinizing other photographers, is used to reflect on race as well as my own identity as an Asian-American. In focusing on these tense interactions between tourists and Chinese locals, this work has been an attempt by me to comprehend the role of race in my lie.

First Reader(s)

Roland, George