Two artists, Faith Chow and Dora Lam, will work with China Exchange volunteers and
Chinatown community members for the next phase of Made in Chinatown, a project to bring
together artists, community members and volunteers to create unique products rooted in
London Chinatown's heritage.
Between May and September, Faith Chow and Dora Lam will complete a residency with
China Exchange focused on the area’s multi-layered history and intangible food cultural
heritage while learning about the meaning and memories created in the area from community
members and volunteers. Both Faith and Dora will hold creative workshops as part of their
residencies to create connections with people and their Chinatown experiences. The
residencies will result in an exclusive range of small batch produced items under the Made in
Chinatown brand.
Artist and illustrator, Faith Chow is British Hong Kong Chinese and grew up in both London
and Hong Kong. Her art is inspired by her Hong Kong Chinese heritage, her travels and her
love for beautiful buildings. Faith paints primarily in watercolours and does urban sketching
(sketching on location) as well as other illustrations inspired by Hong Kong, iconic
shopfronts in London, and landmarks from her travels. She also teaches brush lettering,
“fearless drawing”; and urban sketching workshops. Faith believes that anyone can draw and
loves to help people express themselves through lettering and sketching.
British-Chinese London-based interdisciplinary artist, Dora Lam uses her work to navigate
notions of identity and diaspora. Her work deals with cultural complexity and displacement
on personal and wider levels through combinations of participatory art, performance, moving
image, text and sculpture. She often employs auto-ethnography as a process and a product,
whereby art-making is in itself a tool for recall. Dora is especially interested in using
contemporary art practices to mine, construct and preserve more nuanced forms of cultural
heritage. Her recent piece Making Clay Dumplings (2020), a collaboration between Dora and
her parents, featured in the popular TV series Grayson Perry’s Art Club.
On confirming their residencies, Faith Chow said:
“I am so excited to be working on this fantastic project to champion the food cultural
heritage of Chinatown! Chinatown is such a beloved part of London with such a rich history,
and continues to be a vibrant part of the multicultural fabric of London – and food is such an
integral part of that. Growing up in London, I have been visiting Chinatown since I was a
child, and have lots of fond memories of eating dim sum and noodles with my family here,
and getting buns and snacks to bring home. It means so much to me to be a part of this
project to celebrate Chinatown through artwork.”
Dora Lam said:
“I am so excited to work with the China Exchange in this residency. As a child growing up in
London, Chinatown has played a significant role in my family’s history. The stories behind
food practices of the ESEA diaspora are often poorly documented and preserved, so I am
honoured to be able to contribute as an artist to assert the value of the histories of the
Chinatown community. I hope to strengthen the community’s sense of grounding by bringing
to light the lesser known nuances of individual lived experiences and intangible elements of
cultural heritage.”
This phase of the Made in Chinatown project is funded through TNL Awards for All scheme.
For more information about the project, the residency or Made in Chinatown, please email
info@chinaexchange.uk