The Chinese Diaspora in Canada

Abstract

In this project, research is conducted through alternative research methodologies like artistic and visual research. The Chinese Diaspora and the themes pertaining to the topic are inquired through the investigation of archival images from the late 19th to early 20th century. The artist, as researcher, used the digital databases of Library and Archives Canada to conduct visual research on the Chinese Diaspora. The artist then uses historical images as a starting point for artistic research which questions the attitudes in which Chinese communities have been viewed by mainstream Canadian society and how such sentiments fit into Canadian whiteness and Canadian multiculturalism. Using both, painting and printmaking in her practice, Law examines historical images of the Chinese-Canadian diaspora’s history to investigate her own experiences as a racialized person and connects both historical and contemporary attitudes surrounding diversity. The process of artistic research is then presented as a series of print and paintings, cumulated in the 2019 Union Gallery installation, Unassimilable.