Corky Lee
b. 1947, New York, NY | d. 2021
Three Girls in the Bathroom, Jean Hom-Weng, Christine Chan Yip and Helen Lee, 1987
Silver gelatin print
Courtesy Arlan Huang

A self-taught photographer, Corky Lee first picked up a camera as a tool for community organizing. Volunteering for a tenant’s rights organization in the Two Bridges neighborhood near Manhattan’s Chinatown, Lee took photos of apartment living conditions so that tenants could advocate for housing improvements.Lee was a fixture at Asian American cultural and historical events across New York City, documenting the community in order to combat mainstream media representations. While much of his work was journalistic in nature, Three Girls in the Bathroom was a staged photo wherein Lee positioned the women in the frame before taking the photo.