Henry Wong and You King Yee
Memorial Gallery

The Henry Wong and You King Yee Memorial Gallery (W/Y Gallery) is a 31-foot long display space for artistic exhibits that document and express community struggles.   The W/Y Gallery Committee works to build connections between Asian American artists and activists.

A  river has its source; a tree has its roots.  The social status of Chinese Americans is rising every day.  These gains weren't just bestowed upon us by those in power, and they didn't fall like manna from heaven.  We got these rights because CPA worked hard to get us all united, got us all working together—that's how we got them!

--You King Yee

The aim of the Chinese Progressive Association, as I see it, is to serve the community, and it also stands for the liberation of thought . . . I am happy to be able to do my share in the fight for racial equality.  Whether we succeed or not, everybody must do what you can!

--Henry You-Min Wong

CPA works to strengthen the voices of ordinary community members. 

Inspired by the rich experiences and activism of two of our elderly founding members, CPA launched a volunteer-based Oral History Project back in 1983, with the purpose of documenting the struggles of immigrant working people.  During intervals between intense organizing campaigns, we have recorded the struggles and perspectives of dozens of individuals who have stood up for their rights and for social change.

With the opening of CPA's permanent home and organizing center at the Metropolitan on Parcel C, we launched the WY Gallery, the Henry Wong and You King Yee Memorial Gallery, a small exhibit space for photography and art displays which document and express community struggles.

The gallery houses rotating exhibits of documentary photographs as well as of individual artists of all ages or partnering community groups such as the Asian American Resource Workshop, Boston Progress, and the Chinese Historical Society of New England.

Contact CPA for more information about participating in the WY Gallery Committee or proposing an exhibit. You can download an exhibit proposal form here.

Follow the W/Y Memorial Gallery blog for more information here.

Some of our past exhibits:

• 2 People, 1000 Lives, One Heart
• Rhizomes: Thirty Years of Spreading Our Roots
• Me/We
• We Shall Not Be Moved!
• The Garment Worker’s Story

Current Exhibit: Insert: Collaborations (12/17/09-2/28/10)
This series of photographs documents the collaborative process between art, design and community. The Storefront Library is a temporary library for a community in Boston which has been without its own branch of the Boston Public Library since it was closed and demolished as part of the Central Artery construction in 1956. The Department of Micro-Urbanism co-produced this project with Boston Street Lab, in collaboration with the Friends of the Chinatown Library.

Upcoming Exhibit Opening: Impressions for Change (3/1/10-4/16/10)
Date: 3/6/2010, Saturday
Time: 3:00-5:00pm
Where: CPA Office, Back Entrance, One Nassau St., Unit 2, Chinatown
Description: The Henry Wong and You King Yee Memorial Gallery (W/Y Gallery) and the Chinese Progressive Association welcome Impressions for Change, an exhibition of social change posters printed and curated by Red Sun Press, a printing and design cooperative based in Jamaica Plain. See wygallery.blogspot.com/ for more information.

Other Upcoming Exhibits
Whose Boston? Poster Show (Spring 2010)
Parcel C Memorial Exhibit (Spring/Summer 2010)
Pilgrim Fathers/Illegal Sons (Fall 2010)